Cheap Paper Photos

Clack----

Luo Chong automatically imagined a crisp shutter sound that did not actually exist. The camera before him was far too crude for that; it had no shutter at all, and exposure depended entirely on manually removing the lens cap. But for humanity at this point in time, possessing such black-and-white photography technology was already like something from a divine kingdom.

The family then went through another great deal of fuss. First, they took a separate photo of little Luo Lan in the garden, holding a flower basket. Little Luo Cheng strongly insisted on riding his wooden horse, holding a wooden sword as he posed for a photo with his sister. Then there was a group photo of Luo Chong, Xiao Die, and Zhan Ying; a two-person photo of Luo Chong and Tang Yao; a group photo of Tang Yao, Xiao Die, and Zhan Ying; and finally, a solo photo of Tang Yao.

Because this Silver Plate Wet Plate Photography Technique required the image to be developed immediately, while the chemicals were still wet, the women could see the finished photos at most three minutes after each shot. This instant-photo photography greatly increased their interest, since they could see the finished product right after taking each picture.

Xiao Die and the others were having a blast, but unfortunately, Qu Bing and the others had only prepared a limited number of plates. When there were only two shots left, Xiao Die finally suggested taking one solo photo of Luo Chong, followed by one of the three women pushing the bicycle.

At first, Tang Yao had wanted to take the photo while riding the bicycle, but Silver Plate Photography required an exposure of at least eight seconds. Moreover, the subject could not move at all during exposure. Otherwise, the resulting photo would