Madras. School of Industrial Arts

This group of photographers, working in the 1860s in Madras, liked to camp out at ancient ruins with their unwieldy cameras, waiting for the light to hit the stones just right. They made pictures of crumbling temples where gods still seemed to dance on lintels and monkeys watched from the shadows. Why they dragged their gear to Hampi: to capture a stone pier carved with Krishna dancing on the serpent Kaliya, its relief half-buried in dust and vines. Find the same carved pier today and you’ll see the photographers’ tripod ghosts still circling the frame.