Portret van een man met snor en baard in militair kostuum c. 1857 - 1880

Curator: Let's discuss this dignified image entitled "Portret van een man met snor en baard in militair kostuum" from between 1857 and 1880, attributed to the studio of Woodbury & Page. Editor: Oh, my! He certainly has that rigid, upper-lip thing going on. I'm getting vibes of unspoken orders, perfectly polished boots, and maybe a secret penchant for poetry. Curator: The work is an albumen print, a photographic process which really came into its own in the mid-19th century. The process, itself, requiring a coating of egg whites to hold light-sensitive chemicals on paper. Editor: Egg whites? So it's basically an edible photograph! Though I wouldn’t advise licking it now. I suppose albumen gives it that lovely, subtle sheen and tonal range. The light kind of glazes his serious face. Curator: Indeed. It was a relatively inexpensive and effective method for mass producing portraits and the format democratized image-making, but the material labor invested is easily overlooked. The albumen sourced from hens, the photographic paper needing processing... all embedded costs to fixing an image. Editor: Right, makes you think of the anonymous workers behind even a formal portrait like this. He probably just showed up and posed. Maybe thinking about his next command while folks labored in the darkroom! It’s funny how photography, which feels so immediate now, used to be such a drawn-out ritual. It’s almost painterly. Curator: The photograph represents an intersection of expanding imperial ambitions and nascent capitalism that reshaped visual representation. In its way, each print is a testament to global material supply chains in photography and expanding middle classes. Editor: See, and I just saw a melancholy chap, probably missing his sweetheart and fighting a losing battle with the dust in his moustache. Guess we both brought our perspectives. I still wonder what kind of poems he wrote, or wanted to. Curator: In viewing historical photography, remembering its own production reveals so much beyond just its mere contents. Editor: Agreed. The stories within and beyond the frame—food for thought next time I see a stern-looking man in a photograph.