Photographic Studios
Photography Timeline
New Technology and Industrialization
When the daguerreotype photo production process was announced to the French Academy of Sciences in 1839, the French realized the usefulness of photography for historical documentation. Within the year, the first French photographer showed up in Egypt.
Before the 1880s, the only method of displaying a photograph in a book was to either paste it or use lithography. Then a new method was developed that made photographs transferrable by integrating them with the press process. Photos could now be reproduced in various print forms including books, magazines, and newspapers. This new method was developed during a time in industrialization when there was a demand not only for education but also for a broader range of educational materials. From that point forward, photography was systematically used for promotional purposes and to record engineering accomplishments by those participating in the expansion of colonial rule.
As 1900 drew closer, individuals and studios realized that views of scenery could be a potential commodity. Using various camera devices, independent and commercial studio photographers strove to meet the growing demand for printed visual imagery coming from libraries, antiquity societies, and artists.
Growing Studios and Commercial Photography
In the 1860s, as photography became more accessible, photographers relocated to the Egypt to set up their studios, many in large cities such as Alexandria, Cairo, Luxor and Port Said. They largely produced products to sell to the tourists visiting Egypt. Early photographic images of Egypt on postcards and collectibles gained popularity in Western countries, creating and supporting mass tourism. Postcards developed into an effective way of sending popular printed photographs, purchased either within or outside of Egypt, worldwide. They were inexpensive keepsakes that showed the most visited sites and locations in Egypt.
By 1880, at least ten firms were established in Egypt to meet the growing demand. Foreigners however, dominated the photo-production trade due to advantages reserved only to them, including tax exemptions, lower fees on imported goods, and access to investment capital for European supplies and photo equipment. In addition, foreigners had ready access to exclusive photography training, an advantage denied to Egyptians until the turn of the century. Eventually, Egyptians were able to improve their skills either through studio photographer apprenticeships or by assisting archaeologists. One of the ongoing difficulties those interested in photographic studios face is deciphering who created an image. This results from the practice of passing photographic studios and photograph stocks from one generation to the next.
Color Photographs
Since the beginning of photography, a variety of colors have been produced on paper prints. These include the reddish-orange hues of salt prints, the brown-blacks and siennas of carbon prints, the yellow tones of albumen prints, and the silver tones of platinum prints. The discovery of color photography between 1870 and 1920 showed the most potential for commercial exploitation.
References:
Evans, E. (2000). Scholars, scoundrels, and the sphinx: a photographic and archaeological adventure up the Nile. Knoxville, TN: Frank H. McClung Museum.
Golia, M. (2015, January). Luxor's First Local Lens. AramcoWorld. Retrieved from https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/201501/luxor.s.first.local.lens.htm.
Killingray, D., & Roberts, A. (1989). An Outline History of Photography in Africa to ca. 1940. History in Africa, 16, 197–208. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/3171784
Rosenblum, N. (1997). A world history of photography. New York, NY: Abbeville Press.