Amoy (Xiamen), Fukien province, China: a man and two women. Photograph by John Thomson, 1871.

Three people, including a well-dressed girl on the left. Here are two women with one man standing in the middle. All three look down, as if they are uncomfortable. The two women appear in another photograph (Wellcome Library no. 19722i), where they are seated and gossiping. It was Thomson’s suggestion that they sit down to have the photograph taken, so that they would look more relaxed and natural. That photograph does not include the man, for Thomson wanted to record the women chatting at their ease. In this photograph, however, both the women are silent while the man does the talking