Gezicht op Bodiam Castle before 1875

This photograph of Bodiam Castle was made by Wm. E. Thorpe using photographic paper and a camera. Consider the labor involved, both in the castle’s original construction and in the photographer's work. Building a castle required quarrying stone, transporting it, and the skilled labor of masons, all under a feudal system. Photography, even by the time this image was made, depended on industrial supply chains for materials like paper and chemicals. The image itself is also revealing. A building intended to project power has become a picturesque ruin, viewed as a vestige of the past, and an attractive scene to be captured and collected as a small paper print. Photographs like this blurred the lines between documentation, artistic expression, and commodity. The choice of the subject is more than a mere image, it speaks to the cultural and social values of the time. These values are embedded in both its material and its subject, creating a rich intersection of art, history, and society.