Kathedraal te Châlons-sur-Marne 1896

This photograph of the Kathedraal te Châlons-sur-Marne was created by Georges Durand, using a camera and darkroom. In the 19th century, photography was becoming increasingly professionalized. It depended on precision engineering – the crafting of lenses and camera bodies – and also chemical expertise, to prepare the light-sensitive emulsions and developing solutions. Photography required a skilled hand, not only to capture the image but also to produce the print itself. Consider, then, the sheer amount of labor that went into this seemingly simple image. There was the work of quarrying the stone, shaping it, and lifting it into place to create the cathedral itself, a process that spanned centuries. Then there’s the labor involved in the more recent medium of photography. Looking closely at the image, with its sepia tones and crisp architectural detail, we can appreciate the artistry and the hidden social relations embedded in its making. It reminds us that even the most apparently straightforward image is the product of both human ingenuity and intensive work.