The looks on those faces are entirely different from nowadays photography. It tells something about photographers in that time (technical skills, equipment and verrry long exposure-times as you can see on [Swiss time](http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=713449)). It tells something about the people in that time (sturdy, solemn looks, and people were paying carefully attention to *the photographer* who did magical things with his cam). It tells something about how society somehow people made to choose this kind of photography (like we nowadays prefer usually other shots, people in action, etc.). I've added a partly magnified shot of Swiss time, where you can see the looks on those faces (a bit, the quality is not very well) and the long exposure time that makes several ghost-images of a farmer and the boy at the faucet. Old photography is really fun!!!