Gezicht op Wassen aan de Gotthardspoorweg before 1899

Photoglob & Co. made this photograph, 'Gezicht op Wassen aan de Gotthardspoorweg,' in 1899. It's a modest-sized albumen print, a process that was widely used for commercial photography in the late 19th century. The albumen process involved coating paper with egg white and then exposing it to light through a negative. It was relatively inexpensive but labor-intensive. The resulting images have a distinctive glossy surface and a sepia tone, giving them a nostalgic feel today. Here, that sepia cast emphasizes the image's social context. The Gotthard Railway was a massive engineering project, requiring years of labor. The photograph flattens the landscape into a commodity, a scenic view for consumption. It masks the immense human effort that went into its creation. Considering this history, photography is a powerful reminder that all images, even those that appear to be objective records, are always made with social and economic implications.