The faithful D.A.D. before 1908

Editor: This is a photograph called "The faithful D.A.D." created before 1908 by Geldolph Adriaan Kessler, a gelatin-silver print held at the Rijksmuseum. The figures almost seem posed on the dock, next to this fascinating vessel. What catches your eye about this photograph? Curator: I'm interested in how the materiality of photography intersects with representations of labor and technology here. Gelatin-silver prints were becoming increasingly standardized at this time, enabling wider dissemination of images, thus reshaping visual culture itself. How does that affect this particular landscape? Editor: In what way would you say? Curator: Well, consider the juxtaposition of the presumably 'faithful' ferry against the backdrop of what appears to be a warship. What kind of labor produced each of these, and for what purpose? Is there a statement about shifting naval technologies or production inherent in juxtaposing them? Moreover, how is Kessler's labor – his act of photographic reproduction – implicated? Editor: So you’re saying it's not just a straightforward image but also a comment on industry and production through these different watercraft? Curator: Exactly! Consider the economic underpinnings allowing the existence of leisure boats as well as warships. It shows photographic practice capturing and contributing to this social landscape. Whose stories get told, and whose labor goes unseen? What gets valued, and what is rendered mundane through its widespread capture and consumption in printed images? Editor: That’s fascinating! I never would have considered it in those terms. Now I’m wondering about the kind of social circles involved in both their creation and circulation. Curator: Precisely. The beauty of examining a work through this lens is that it reveals not just the subject, but the complex web of social and economic relations that bring it into being. Editor: This makes me see photography as way more than just documentation. It's a whole system! Thanks for broadening my perspective.