[Joseph John Jenkins] 1860s

This is a photograph of Joseph John Jenkins, created by John and Charles Watkins. Its sepia tones and formal composition give it a distinctive air of 19th-century portraiture. The subject, Jenkins, is seated and angled slightly to his left, yet his gaze is directed towards us. The sepia tone flattens the image, reducing contrast and emphasizing the tonal gradations that model his face and clothing. The light catches his forehead and the side of his face, drawing our attention to his expression. His hands, clasped in his lap, seem unnaturally frozen. Structurally, the photograph uses a conventional approach to portraiture. Yet, the very act of freezing a moment in time raises interesting questions about representation and reality. Photography, as Roland Barthes pointed out, is a "certificate of presence," yet it also signifies absence, the "that-has-been." This tension is palpable, highlighting the photograph's status as both a record and an artifice.