Thanks to gents similar to this one we are fortunate to enjoy street scene photographs in the 21st century that are admired just as much today as they were 100 years or more ago. Many can be seen on: www.shorpy.com

Many old photographs were the result of large glass-plate negatives, often 8 by 10 inches, that provided fine detail and resolution, sometimes rivaling the detail of what we see from today's digital cameras. Old cameras as shown here surely were very expensive in their day!