The processing of photographs presents a unique set of problems at the BnF, given the quantity and range of its collections and the diversity of its tasks. At the same time some of the issues – the role of photographs, their use, the specifics of description, large-scale accessibility – are also relevant to other institutions. Faced with these questions, various directors and curators of the former Prints Department developed or adapted methodological and technical approaches aimed at making cataloguing more efficient and the images more accessible. Standardisation, automation and dematerialisation have since eased the professional burden, but these successive phases have in turn impinged on processing policies by raising new questions and priorities. Reviving rather than resolving issues relating to the particularities, plurality and materiality of the collections, they brought – and continue to bring – ongoing adjustments necessitated by changing apprehensions of photography.