Porait, in former times considered as the domain of elites, was usually made by an artist. However, since the second half of the 20th century, thanks to new medium which was photography, it became generally available at little or low cost. Almost everybody who was interested could order such a photo. At the beginning of the 20th century, studio photography had already been very common and popular. The demand for portrait photography was quite great, even in such small towns as Nowy Targ. However, some professional photographers appeared in the town (Stanisław Bochyński, Józef Christ, Edward Morawetz and Franciszek Rozłucki), the inhabitants of Nowy Targ had been going to Cracow, Lwów, Nowy Sącz or Vienna to take photos.
Most of individual and collective portraits of well-known and important persons (but mainly of the inhabitants of Nowy Targ and its surroundings) that are presented in the album are taken in the atelier of Edward Morawetz. In many of these photos the background is created either by mountain scenery or by window. Some requisites which were chosen at the request of a client such as: table, chairs, birch hurdle or decorative column are also frequent. Moreover there are many standard portraits used in official documents.
The photographs in the collections create a collective portrait of town inhabitants, a picture of people living in the past which were solidified, “remembered” and recorded on light-sensitive film. This is a very stylish portrait that tells us the story about those times, fashion, beauty canons and about the attitude towards photography. It is touching and may be even pathetic how our ancestors are gazing at photographic lens while being photographed and also how professionally the photographer placed the person posing to the picture.

Among portraits taken by Morawetz, so called ethnographic portraits are particularly interesting. And as it may seem, it was planned by the author who looked for and invited to his atelier outstanding highlanders who one could run into on the streets of the town when village fairs or church fairs took place.

This photo series is excellent. Morawetz watches them carefully and with empathy. The documental and emotional value of these pictures cannot be overestimated (Photo No. 127, 129, 134, 135, 136, 374, 375, 377, 378).

They picture landholder in Podhale region dressed in traditional attire with pipes, hatchets, chippers or gęśls (which is a kind of violin). The piper Mróz from Poronin (Photo No. 132) and townswomen in headscarfs, dressed in traditional attire (Photo No. 317, 318) look very attractive. Curiously enough, the same traditional furs produced by cloakmakers in Nowy Targ can be seen in the portraits drawn by Michał Rekucki.

In the photographs of Morawetz taken firstly in the atelier on Szkolna Street and later on Kazimierza Wielkiego Street, there are photographed many inhabitants of Nowy Targ. Happy newlyweds and fathers of families accompanied by wives and children who stop their inborn mobility and freeze to have a look at the photographic lens of camera with great interest but at the same time with appropriate seriousness. Smartly and formally dressed office workers, teachers, lawyers, and doctors with, fashionable at that time, well kept beards and moustaches. Women dressed in the best outfits and girls smiling shyly but, at the same time, coquettishly. Men and young boys dressed in uniforms who took picture before going to war. Catholic priests and rabbis living in the town at that time, dressed in traditional gaberdines and their wives in wigs. When we look at these photos at present, we can see conventional shots and stiff poses resulting from the specific character of portrait photography at that time. On the other hand, when we analyze work of Morawetz with his models, we can see  not only how great and well-skilled photographer he was (for whom taking photos was the main source of upkeep), but also his proficiency at light operating or using retouch, and in some shots also signs of artistic photography picturing the individual and the most characteristic features of a photographed person.