Excelsior Geyser "Hell's Half Acre" before 1887

Curator: This albumen print by Frank Jay Haynes, probably taken before 1887, offers an intriguing glimpse into Yellowstone's landscape. Haynes’s manipulation of the photographic process is quite interesting. What strikes you about it? Editor: It's beautiful! It feels a bit like a postcard, you know? We're seeing "The Golden Gate" and "West Gardiner Falls." It is really interesting how Haynes captures the raw power of nature. How would you approach interpreting this piece? Curator: Looking at this from a materialist perspective, I am drawn to consider the very process of its creation. This is not just a straightforward representation of nature. Haynes deliberately employs techniques from Pictorialism; consider the albumen print itself – a labor-intensive process dependent on specific chemical reactions, layers of egg whites. What were the working conditions for someone producing these prints, en masse, perhaps? How were these materials sourced and what was the economic context for it all? Editor: That makes me think about the distribution of these images too. Was Haynes aiming for tourists? Educated city dwellers? Curator: Precisely. Photography was becoming increasingly democratized, allowing for mass reproduction. What kind of consumer culture were images of the American West feeding into? And at what cost to the environment that Haynes supposedly captures in a natural and pure state? Editor: Wow, I never thought about landscape photography in terms of consumerism and labor. I guess I was too caught up in the scenery. Thanks for making me rethink what I was seeing! Curator: That is why we are here: To move beyond immediate appearances, examining the material reality of production. We see photographs differently now.