Gezicht op de London Bridge c. 1860 - 1880

This stereoscopic image of London Bridge was created by J. Davis Burton using a photographic printing process. In this period, photography had become a booming industry, offering views of far-off places to armchair travelers. Here, the material – a thin, coated paper – determines the image's appearance, with its sepia tones and soft focus adding to the period charm. The image is doubled to create a 3D effect when viewed through a stereoscope. This novel technology offered a window onto the world, feeding the public’s appetite for the spectacle of modernity. But it was also part of a wider economic system. Studios like Burton’s mass-produced these images, relying on both skilled photographers and a large, often underpaid workforce to print and mount the photographs. Looking at this image, we can reflect on how the technologies of image-making are always entwined with social and economic forces, revealing much about labor, production, and consumption.