Women and children

Early photographers in India often grouped people from particular social, ethnic, and work backgrounds: They photographed rulers and the ruled, and discovered pockets of distinct communities on which to train their cameras. This was true of the earliest photography in Japan as well, but where Japan modernized quickly—so people wearing quaint costumes had to be posed with props in studio photographs to simulate activities of earlier times—India still offered opportunities for authentic documentation. These laborers were photographed in a formal grouping at an outdoor location. The photograph has what appears to be a later label in pencil reading, stereotypically, "Coolie women"; this label is further evidence of the great interest of photographers of the era in identifying and cataloguing groups of people native to the land. Though we might expect the people here to be smiling broadly for the camera as is typical of today's group photos, they show a severity of expression common in early studies. A series of photographs taken either by someone named E. Taurines or by a studio of that name are known.