Gezicht op de Westerhal op de Westermarkt in Amsterdam c. 1855

Eduard Isaac Asser captured this photograph of the Westerhal in Amsterdam using an early photographic process. It involved coating a metal or glass plate with light-sensitive chemicals. What's remarkable is the way this early process informs the image's aesthetic. The limited tonal range, the soft focus, and the way the light interacts with the chemicals, all contribute to a unique visual experience. The photograph becomes a document of a specific place and time, but also a testament to the labor and ingenuity required to capture an image in this era. Photography, then, was a painstaking craft, not the instantaneous act it is today. This highlights the amount of work involved in producing a single image. By considering the materials, the processes, and the social context in which it was created, we can understand the image more deeply. It challenges our notions of photography as a purely representational medium.