Gezicht op Cana te Galilee c. 1870 - 1875

This is a photograph of Cana in Galilee, taken by Horatio Herbert Kitchener, sometime before 1916. The process involved, albumen printing, was a mainstay of nineteenth-century photography. Paper was coated with albumen—that's egg white—and then sensitized with silver nitrate. What is especially notable is the way that this particular process lends itself to documentary work. The texture, weight, and color of the photograph are all affected by the albumen, creating a sepia tone, which gives the image a sense of both immediacy and history. Kitchener no doubt selected this method for its capacity to render a clear, replicable image, and the material’s stability would have been well-suited to distribution in book form. It's important to consider the social context of this work. Kitchener wasn't just an artist; he was a high-ranking military officer in the British Empire. This photograph, therefore, is not simply a depiction of a place but also a record of colonial power and its methods for collecting and classifying information. Recognizing this helps us understand the full meaning of Kitchener's image, challenging the idea that photography is purely objective or neutral.