Zuilengalerij in Baalbek, Libanon 1867 - 1885

This albumen print of the Zuilengalerij in Baalbek, Lebanon, was created by Félix Bonfils. In the mid-19th century, photographers like Bonfils were part of a wave of Europeans eager to document the Near East, a region then largely unknown to Western audiences. Albumen printing, the process used here, was a cutting-edge technology at the time. It involved coating paper with egg white and silver nitrate to create a surface sensitive to light. The resulting prints, like this one, were celebrated for their clarity and detail. But let's consider the social context. The photograph romanticizes a distant land for European consumption, while simultaneously overlooking the labor involved in its production. From the miners who extracted the silver, to the factory workers who prepared the chemicals, to Bonfils himself lugging equipment through Lebanon, the image is the result of countless hours of work. So, next time you see a historical photograph, remember it's more than just a pretty picture; it's a material object, made through specific processes, with a complex social history embedded within it.