Gezicht op de Damascuspoort en een gezicht op de stadsmuur in de buurt van de Damascuspoort, in Jeruzalem before 1865

James McDonald created this albumen print of the Damascus Gate and city wall in Jerusalem sometime in the 19th century. The albumen process involves coating paper with egg white, then using silver nitrate to make it light-sensitive. Consider the labor involved: McDonald had to prepare his chemicals, coat and sensitize the paper, expose the print, and then develop and fix it. Each stage required precision and care. Photography at this time was still a relatively new technology and wasn't as easy as pointing and shooting. The photograph itself, with its detailed rendering of the stone textures, speaks to the passage of time and the weight of history. The built environment is presented as an accumulation of skilled labor that has gone into this architectural landscape, raising questions of how this place was constructed and who performed the manual labor. By focusing on the making of the image, and the making of the place it depicts, we can consider the social context of both.