Hoofd van een Gorgo before 1899

Constant Puyo created "Hoofd van een Gorgo" – "Head of a Gorgon" – using the photographic processes available at the turn of the 20th century. These early photographs involved a range of techniques including developing and printing, and they are far from the point-and-shoot photography we know today. The sepia tone and soft focus lend the image a dreamlike quality, distancing it from sharp realism. But it's worth considering the social context, too. Puyo was a member of the Photo-Club de Paris, which was determined to have photography considered an art form in its own right. The labor involved in making photographs at the time was definitely a barrier to entry. This was not mass production, but it was certainly a modern industrial technology, which only a limited number of practitioners could access. So while photography democratized image-making, it also became another way of demonstrating the status and taste of its practitioners.