Gezicht op de Inselruhe Avenue met vermoedelijk een kerk op het Belle Isle Park before 1889

This photograph of Inselruhe Avenue, possibly featuring a church in Belle Isle Park, was created by Shipley & Ladd. The image is a silver gelatin print, a process which involves coating paper with light-sensitive chemicals, exposing it to light through a negative, and then developing the image in a darkroom. This was a popular and relatively inexpensive method of photographic printing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and lent itself well to mass production. The tonal range, from the dark shadows to the bright highlights, gives a sense of depth to the image. The photograph's inherent qualities of light and shadow, in conjunction with the angle of the shot, create a strong sense of depth and perspective. This is likely a photograph from a report on Belle Isle, pointing to the use of photography as a mode of communicating not just aesthetics, but also financial and economic factors of civic interest. Understanding the material, the process, and the social context enhances our understanding of this image.