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Communication with the external world was further
hindered by seclusion because of the specifi c laws of
bartering, via language barrier, and by the lack of geo-
graphical information. As a result, at the end of the 19th
century natives lived there at a level of development of
the Palaeolithic age. This way of life was recorded with
a high degree of precision and scientifi c authenticity by
the documentary photographs of Lajos Bíró.
His work was hampered by numerous circumstances,
like the murderous climate, language differences, dif-
fi culties with travel, and with obtaining and replacing
instruments. However, in spite of these hindrances, he
collected and prepared insects and birds often using
every moment to conduct microscopic studies and to
make notes, drawings and photos.
His most valuable photographs were taken on
the northern and northeastern coastal regions of the
island which had been undiscovered from an eth-
nographical point. The land that makes up this area
are the little islands in front of Aitape (Berlinhafen),
Seleo, Ali, Angiel (Angel Island); Erima in the Bay
of Astrolabe, around Staphansort and its villages
(Bongu, Bogadjime); several sites of the Mountains
Hansemann, Oertzen, and Constantine, Bilibi (Bilibili
Island), Siar, and Gragat Island, in the region of the
Huon Bay. He visited the whole peninsula setting off
from Simbang (close to Fischhafen). He also stayed
with the highlander Kaio’s, with the Jabim’s living at
the coast and visited Tami Island, and the Bukawa’s
living on the northern coast of Huon Bay. His travels
also extended to the New Ireland Islands, and the (Vitu)
French group of islands.
Lajos Bíró’s photographs can be divided into four
major thematic groups:
- Landscape, natural plants, and their transforma-
tion; - Anthropological photos of natives;
- Recording their way of life, their culture, and tradi-
tions; - Way of life of European settlers, and their settle-
ments.
Full-length, standing or sitting, photos of the inhabit-
ants of various villages are mainly group photographs
or portraits made in relaxed, natural postures. Ethnog-
raphers were, however, were primarily interested in
photographing places, objects, or activities of everyday
life like, family houses, the yam stores, a meeting house
under construction, the fi sh barrage, people travelling,
agriculture, fallow lands of one and two years, yam
plantations, coconut germination beds, or even snail
bracelets, potters at work, and also people cooking din-
ner, or preparing kava. Similarly, the rituals of the closed
communities, which were hidden from certain members
of the community itself, such as the ghost house in Seleo,
and ritual accessories like musical instruments, or festive
rituals like the funeral feast, ritual dances, and partaking
people, which is the circumcision of the young, were
also of interest to ethnographers.
Since Lajos Bíró could see the inevitable effects
that people like him posed to the colonial people and
their culture, he considered photographing extremely
signifi cant and thought of it as his obligation to make
the records of their status and development as authentic
as possible. This deep sympathy and understanding
can be well sensed in the informal atmosphere of the
pictures.
Another of Lajos Bíró’s interests was to photograph
the living quarters of the Europeans. In one photograph
in particular, the offi cial building of the German Gov-
ernment can be seen in the shadow of huge palm trees.
The house stands on piles, and has a spacious veranda
richly decorated with artworks of local hand craftsmen.
Among other images that were photographed was a
grocery, a study of the offi cials of the German admin-
istration in Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen, supervisors and
workers on tobacco plantations, which were directed
by the members of the Neu-Guinea Compagnie, and
the fl agged building of Club Astrolabe in Stephansort.
These places were designed with careful landscap-
ing, indicative of a European presence. Europeans
in tropical helmets, traders arranging bartering, and
a Catholic missionary and his helpers working on
creating a new settlement were also depicted in Bíró’s
photos as well.
Bíró used glass plates of 12 × 16.5 cm in size to make
photographs. He had a transportable, folding camera
with wooden framework made by W. Watson & Sons
in London, who manufactured optical & photographic
instruments in London, but also distributed their prod-
ucts in Hungary via the Calderoni fi rm. According to
his notes, he indicated that he also used “the photosensi-
tive plate [that] has been on me for 5 years already, no
wonder, it did not give a good picture.”
Considering the tropical climate, successful labora-
tory work was extraordinarily circumstantial. The high
temperature of the water, as it seldom cooled down to 22-
26 °C even at night, made development diffi cult. Drying
the plates was also diffi cult because of the high humidity
of the air, and anything that was not completely dried of-
ten became mouldy immediately. Therefore, in order to
make successful photographs, Bíró made meteorological
observations. He measured the temperature of air and
water, air pressure, and the quantity of precipitation. He
then developed his plates during cooler nights, which
allowed him to be able to replace bad quality pictures
or damaged plates, if necessary.
Money was always an obstacle for Lajos Bíró. He
once made money by selling photo plates of anthropo-
logical pictures of Papuans for 3 Marks each to a Ger-