Comments on: First of the photojournalists

First of the photojournalists

Abiezer — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:55:43 -0800

Japanese places and people photographed by Felice Beato, a pioneer 19th century photographer who documented the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny and the Anglo-French military intervention in China before opening a studio in Yokohama in 1863. He also seems to have been the first photographer in Korea.Wikipedia NYPL archive First two links are units in MIT's Visualizing Cultures project.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:12:06 -0800

The places and people links, at first scan, look absolutely marvelous. Some of those "people" photos are pretty well known, like the lady with the mirror. And, damn, Yokohama sure was full of trees back then! Handsome sites, too: I like sideways scrolling for photography galleries. More like a book. Thanks for posting.

By: gomichild

gomichild — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:25:27 -0800

Oooo thanks Abz! I love seeing these old pictures of places I know - like flapjax said - Yokohama used to be full of trees!!! Unlike flapjax, I loathe sideways scrolling with a passion and will be extracting punishment accordingly.

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:29:52 -0800

Seminal example of the MeFi mix of brickbats and bouquets! The rest of what's currently at the Visulaizing Cultures project all seems to be Japan-related, which should be fun for youse two as well, though I've not really explored that yet as I arrived at this via reading about the quite amazing Mr Beato.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:57:51 -0800

Great stuff—I never heard of this guy, and now I want to know more. Thanks, Abiezer!

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:09:51 -0800

lh - it was this Google book that made me aware of him; might have something you're interested in there.

By: gnutron

gnutron — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:13:39 -0800

utterly fascinating. great stuff.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:19:20 -0800

Wonderful images!

By: everichon

everichon — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:29:42 -0800

I love this.

By: bullitt 5

bullitt 5 — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:38:15 -0800

Nice context for the period samurai movies I've been watching. This is of course later, but similarly bucolic and pre-modern. Nice find!

By: the cydonian

the cydonian — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:53:29 -0800

One of the pictures in the collection is that of the La Martiniere College in Lucknow, one of the two educational institutions in the world to receive a battle-honour, for its students' role in the Revolt of 1857 ("The First War of Indian Independence"). They were under a seige, and showed enough ingenuity to build an amateur semaphore from instructions in an encyclopedia. _{Trivia overload, and this is an absolute and complete navel-gazing effort, but found it amusing that the lead general involved in the incident, General Outram, lends his name to a locality I frequent in Singapore called 'Outram Park'.} This is how it looks like now.

By: carter

carter — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 06:09:54 -0800

Excellent, thanks Abiezer!

By: Unicorn on the cob

Unicorn on the cob — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:23:39 -0800

Stunning, I'm in love with these images! thankyoux1million