Islands in Lower Saranac Lake (State land) 1891

This photograph of Islands in Lower Saranac Lake was made by Seneca Ray Stoddard, and presented as a plate in a book. As a photograph, it reflects the translation of a three-dimensional scene into a two-dimensional image through specific chemical and optical processes. Think about the labor involved in creating this image. Stoddard used a camera, glass plate negatives, and chemical developers, all products of industrial manufacture. His darkroom was a mobile unit, and the final prints are the result of a complex interplay between the artist's skill and the industrial supply chain. The work is presented as a reproduction in a book, indicating the growth of mass media, and a move away from unique objects towards mass-produced commodities. The image is a carefully composed scene of nature, made for an urban audience increasingly alienated from the landscape it depicts. The photograph’s availability as an inexpensive reproduction speaks to the commodification of nature, turning a place into an image, a product to be consumed.