So apparently theres a physical gallery for the famous Getty Images, the leader and behemoth of stock images online. While it was cool to see an intersting selection of photos from london's history, it was basically like they combed through the online archives under the tag "London" and just boiled it down. I mean, the framed pieces were available as instant print reproductions and there were supplemental photos in binders...which, basically were, literally, printouts of the webpage with the photo on it.

I mean, the digitizing of the archival and databasing process is magnificent, theres no doubt about it. But it really turns something that WOULD and, in theory, still is somewhat epic/intense/tedious (searching for ancient photos from a mass of books and collections to put together an exhibit), into a showcase that might have been purely clicked, saved, and printed without ever touching, visiting or filing through archives. Yes, its not that these collections and databases aren't comprehensive, I'm sure they are,and they make the process way more efficient. But call me old-fashioned, but it just FEELS different although the end product, or at least the selections, might have been more or less the same either way.


Above is the Whitechapel riots, taken place on the street I bike almost dailiy to get groceries in the early 1900s, when working-class men blockaded the street to prevent a labor strike from marching through. You see the suits fleeing for their lives as the police decide that they're not playing nice with the blue-collars.