ABSTRACT
From the mid-to late-nineteenth century, photography was an expensive, technically complicated and time-consuming affair. A photographer would need a considerable amount of skill in order to even expose a single image. A glass plate would have had to be pre-coated in light-sensitive emulsion. The plate would then have to be exposed for the correct amount of time and carefully transferred to a darkroom. A detailed list of materials and techniques associated with most of the standard processes during this period would have been extensive. Photography was restricted to professional photographers and rich amateurs. The only photographs found in the home would be formal studio portraits of family members taken by a professional photographer or the popular and collectable cartes-de-visite (small commercially printed photographs mounted on card) that were favoured by well-to-do classes. In this period of history a photograph was a precious thing. This case study explains how photography became accessible, affordable and popular.
