John Thomson, Scottish ethno-photographer reference

More will follow as I learn about the backstory for this particular photographic reference.   Yesterday I discovered this character in a small market place about 1 mile from the hotel.  The older sepia photograph is by John Thomson Irish, approximately 1870 and the color one is mine from yesterday.  This references early and contemporary peep shows.
John Thomson (14 June 1837 – 29 September 1921)was a pioneering Scottish photographer, geographer and traveller. He was one of the first photographers to travel to the Far East, documenting the people, landscapes and artifacts of eastern cultures. Upon returning home, his work among the street people ofLondon cemented his reputation, and is regarded as a classic instance of social documentary which laid the foundations for photojournalism. He went on to become a portrait photographer of High Society in Mayfair, gaining the Royal Warrant in 1881. [Wikipedia reference] I rephotographed Thomson’s work through the Special Collections at UMBC, USA.