There is also one more merchant in the photo, Georgios An. Ioakimoglou, brother-in-law of Ioannis. He stands in the centre with his wife, Kokona Ioakimoglou (sitting on the left). To his right is a possible depiction – there is no other another photo of her – of the first wife of Ioannis Kralis, Amersouda Ioakimoglou, Georgios’ sister. We believe that the elderly seated lady is Sirmatuda Ioakimoglou, the mother of Georgios and Amersouda.

As we knew the birth dates for only two of the people depicted (Komninakis and little Antonis) and the information about the ages of the other people came from oral family narratives, passed down from generation to generation, the research became our assistant. The stamp of the studio on the recto (front) of the photo indicates the photo studio: “Castania Brothers, European Club passage Street, Smyrna” [5].

The brothers Castania, Frangolevantins from Chios, were photographers who had settled in Smyrna. They initially worked in the “EI Beder” photo studio of the Armenian John Sislian, which was located within the Spondi Passage. Later they became his partners and finally, in September 1874, with the retirement of Sislian, they took over the photo studio on their own, which, however, had already moved into the European Club’s passage in 1873. Research yielded the result and the date of the photo, which is the last quarter of 1874, matches perfectly with the known birth dates and oral narratives.

In Sislian’s photo studio, “El Beder – Castania Frères” [6], and therefore before September 1874, the family’s forfather, Kralis Xatzi – Anagnostis (future publication), and his son Ioannis had already posed.

Two more of Smyrna’s photo studios make their appearance in the family photo album. The oldest photograph is from 1866, by the relative Antonios C. Lazos (from a previous publication on 29 February 2024), in one of the first photo studios in Smyrna, of the “Armenian Kirkor Zaki Kessikbachian” [7].

Nikolaos Pan. Eleftheriadis and his brother Pantelis Pan. Eleftheriadis of Petra, the brothers-in-law of Komninakis Krallis, (known from previous publications), preferred the photo studio of “F. W. Krabow, Frangomachala, at the corner of Rose Street, Smyrna” [8] (future publication).

As Smyrna, during the late Ottoman period, was a thriving port city with significant Greek, Armenian, Jewish, and Levantine communities alongside the Turkish population, it was this diversity that influenced its cultural and artistic trends, including photography. The first photography studios were often run by Greeks, Armenians, and Italians, who brought photographic knowledge from abroad.

At the same time, the middle and upper classes, including merchants, intellectuals, and officials, increasingly sought photographic portraits to showcase their status and modernity.

We observe, therefore, that in an era of social change, as technology contributes to the widespread dissemination of images and ideas, photography functions as a medium for documenting reality, preserving historical memory, enhancing individual identity and social influence, expanding artistic creation and the scientific perception of the time, and gaining special significance for society. This dynamic is still with us!