Untitled (five photographs, clockwise from top left, Major Alison; Captain Marshall; Mrs. Charles Spencer Lennox; Charles Hanbury Kincaid Lennox; center, Honorable Charles Hanbury) 1862 - 1888

Editor: Here we have an untitled photograph album page by Mary Filmer featuring five portraits. The sepia tones and formal poses give it a very stately feel. What do you see in the means of production here? Curator: The albumen print process itself is telling. It's a commercially viable technique, connecting photography to a burgeoning industry. How does the choice of this process affect our understanding of the subjects portrayed? Editor: It makes it seem almost...mass-produced, despite being individual portraits? Curator: Exactly! It challenges our ideas about artistic labor and value. Does it elevate or diminish the sitters, considering the broader context of Victorian-era industrialization and consumption? Editor: It certainly complicates the idea of portraiture as a purely individualistic endeavor. I never considered it that way.