It’s fitting that Mori Kaoru chose to frame this chapter around the idea of capturing the past and preserving it for posterity.  That’s a large part of what she’s been doing in Otoyomegatari, but never more so than with “Collodion Process”, where she really lets her inner geek (and she’s a big one) have free run.

The Collodion process, for those unfamiliar, is the early photography process which was invented by a Brit named Frederick Scott Archer in the mid-19th Century.  As is evidenced by Hawking’s explanation to Henry Smith, it’s time-consuming, messy, and potentially dangerous – not to mention finicky and hard to get right.  But if you wanted to develop photos back then, this was the way you had to go about doing it, pretty much.  Which means Smith – and Ali, too – need to be able to reproduce it while traveling.

Why is this so important?  Ali doesn’t quite get Smith’s passion for preserving the Turkic way of life, but that’s partly a cultural thing I believe.  For Henry none of this is about himself – it’s always been about the people he meets on the way.  Karluk and Amira, Pariya, the twin sets of twins.  And now Talas, of course.  Smith is a storyteller after a fashion, and he knows that his words can only ever tell part of the story.  Photographs can last far longer than a lifetime – though one suspects that Smith doesn’t yet sense just how long they truly can influence those who see them.

As Henry tries to pick up the Collodion Process through trial and error (mostly error at first), several interesting things happen.  First, he notes that Ali and Hawking seem to have no trouble communicating – despite the fact that neither speaks the other’s language.  Then it’s time for Henry to choose his first model – and it’s hardly a surprise.  Talas’ reaction (“I take after my mother”) is quietly powerful, and a test of our modern capacity for empathy.  How can we possibly understand the significance of seeing yourself for the first time – how unsettling and emotional that must be?  And finally, Niklovski shows up at last – and since he’s Russian like Chekov, one might surmise that once introduced into the plot, Niklovski will play some role in events to follow.