ABSTRACT
The attentiveness Giesbrecht displayed in the zoological illustrations to the plenitude of colors and forms manifests in the copepods of the Bay of Naples is, thus, clearly evident in his photographic observation of the city as well. To be sure, not only the theme of work–as presented between 1890 and 1893 in roughly 600 images, around half showing the local fishermen and fisherboys–but with it, lack of work and abject poverty inevitably play a role in the photos. Using Giesbrecht's series of photos of fishermen as a starting point, we can observe how "scientific fishing"–the Stazione's institutional program–operated within a porous area located between the field and laboratories. This chapter argues that photographic documentation does nothing less than render visible a blind spot in the Stazione Zoologica's history. By documenting individuals, instruments, and venues, Giesbrecht furnished insight into the Stazione's working culture and ethos of knowledge production.
