By 1916 photography had progressed to the snapshot stage.
wetplate and other types similar were very popular still for a good long time- they are even still somewhat popular- (which was used a lot by folks like ansel adams, and still used today by landscape photographers- though not as widespread- folks can now achieve looks similar to wetplate, tin type, medium format etc with digital photos and using photoshop to manipulate the photos now
and don’t forget- not a lot of folks could afford the old brownies- and the film and developing costs etc, and the like- they still would get dressed and get their portraits done professionally and it was still a big deal- and many pro photographers still used the honkin big old cumbersome equipment- We have family portraits from the early 1900’s and even mid 1900’s that the photographers used those cameras-
The brownies were good, but the photo quality just lacked what medium format and wetplate could deliver- That’s why folks like Ansel still preferred to tote the huge cameras around- and why portrait professionals used them- They still use medium format, though much modernized ones-