Early photography

I've been looking at Victorian photos. The people look somehow different. It's not just the outfits, or the very staged look. In a modern photo I often think "that face is a bit like so-and-so" but the older the photo the less that seems to work. Until I came across photos of 19th century black women. They're like modern people in costume. I worked with someone who looked like the first one (apart from the extremely long hair) and the third one was her boss. Well, not exactly, but they're similar.

The past is famously another country. But I like these photos because they don't feel so foreign.