UNDATED – Portrait of a Lady, taken in a studio in Kiel, Germany. © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com/Photo: W. Jacobsen
The story behind the image
Recently I came across this cabinet photo which was shot by Wilhelm Jacobsen a merchant and photographer who ran is studio in Kiel at Holstenstrasse corner Rosenstrasse. As so often, there are is further contextual information, i.e. no date, no name, no serial number. So we won’t be able to find out more about the lady. Looking at her clothes and the photography style it is fair to assum that this photo was shot around 1904.
The back of the card shows something very interesting: a price chart for the studio. It reads:
| Visit | 1 Person | 12 images (1 dozen) | 1.80 Mark |
| Cabinet | 1 Person | 12 images (1 dozen) | 5 Mark |
| Postcards | 1 Person | 12 images (1 dozen) | 1.20 Mark |
A while ago I shared the 1890 price list of Georg Billström. And comparing the rates of 1904 with the rates of 1890 we can see that photography had become a mass market, a true industry. Back in 1890 it was a craft that required a thorough education and excellent skills. In 1904, it was an almost standardized business that utilized the technology improvements to increase efficiency and reduce prices by roughly 50% (without reflecting the salary increases that took place in the same period.)
Interesting.
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | c. 1904 |
| Photographer | W. Jacobsen |
| Location | Kiel, Germany |
| Image Source | 8 x 16.7 cm black & white print mounted to solid cardboard, photographer stamp on verso (cropped from full cabinet photo) |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 7329 x 10994 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com/Photo: W. Jacobsen |
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