Under the Dutch colonial administration, all non-indigenous Asians were organised under their own leaders. These leaders were appointed by the government to manage the civil affairs of their communities. They were termed “officers” and held the ranks of ‘majoor’, ‘kapitein’ or ‘luitenant’. Woodbury and Page was a photo studio founded by Englishmen Walter Bentley Woodbury and James Page in Batavia (now Jakarta) on 5 June 1857. The younger Woodbury brothers, Henry James and Albert, joined the enterprise subsequently. It remained active right up to 1908, even after the departure of its original owners. In addition to studio portraits, Woodbury and Page also travelled around the Dutch East Indies, capturing a range of subjects which included royal personages, the common people, landscapes and scenes of everyday life. Though they were not the earliest photographers in Java, their prolific works are now considered classic and lauded for providing valuable insights into Indonesia in the colonial era.Apart from being an avid photographer, Woodbury was also famous for inventing a photo developing technique, which was patented as the Woodburytype on 23 September 1864. He took out no less than 20 patents between 1864 and 1884 and was dubbed the ‘Einstein of photography’ by his peers.
