Vintage.es features some NYC photographs by Robert Bracklow around 1900. Bracklow was allegedly afraid of the dark so other photogs called him Daylight Bob. These pics show NYC as partly rural, with some actual farms in Queens, and many casual smalltownish business areas. Daylight Bob’s NYC is remarkably non-busy and non-congested. Only a few buggies are in the frame, one or two pedestrians, no streetcars. I suppose he was selective, but it still casts a different light on NYC vs other cities.
By contrast, most pics of Enid from around 1900 are packed with buggies and streetcars and bicycles and crowds of walkers.
Taking one photograph in 1900 was a lot of work. Set up tripod and camera, adjust focus and aperture, wait for just the right moment, open the shutter and pray for success because glass plates were expensive. Then another hour or two in the darkroom.
Now you have to work hard to NOT take a photograph. Your built-in spy sensor is taking photos and sound and heartbeat and blood pressure and acceleration and location and external temperature and barometric pressure, at every second of your life.
Polistra's Mill 