Gezicht op Salzburg before 1865

This albumen silver print, "Gezicht op Salzburg," was created by Francis Frith during a time of rapid change and expansion of the British Empire. Frith, a Quaker, was also a successful businessman and pioneering photographer. Frith made multiple journeys to the Middle East to document landscapes, architecture, and people; these expeditions were driven by both a thirst for the exotic and the commercial demands of a burgeoning market for travel photography in England. "Gezicht op Salzburg" is a more local subject for Frith, yet is imbued with the same sense of capturing a place and time. Consider the gaze through which these images were created. As the British Empire expanded, photography played a role in shaping perceptions of both the colonizer and the colonized. This photograph encapsulates a moment in the mid-19th century, inviting us to reflect on the complex relationship between representation, identity, and power.