Alfred Stieglitz

Alfred Stieglitz, born in New Jersey, grew up in a big army family. He was known to be the man that made photography an acceptable form of art. He was a very important figure in art history. He was not only a photographer, but he was a supporter and promoter to other photographers. Stieglitz was also a writer and editor of "The American Amateur Photographer" magazine. He was a part of two major photography clubs and was nominated to lead them. He eventually merged the two clubs into one. Alfred Steiglitz played a major role in making photography what is is today.

George Eastman

George Eastman was the creator of roll film and the founder of Eastman Kodak Company. He was an American businessman, philanthropist, and innovator. He established several schools in his name including the Eastman school of music and other medical and dentistry schools. George Eastman was born and grew up in a family of five in New York. He helped his mother put him through school, but he left early and began developing roll film. He was from a family known for their philanthropic contributions and was a big part of following in his legacy.

Richard Leach Maddox

Richard Leach Maddox was born in England in the early 1800's. He was a photographer known for his photography of micro organisms under the microscope. After practicing his microphotography for a while, he discovered the lightweight gelatin dry plate process. This was based off of Fredrick Archer's wed plate collodion process. After multiple trials, Maddox's work succeeded and he created a new and improved dry plate process that allowed one to save negatives, and gave people the ability to use commercial dry plates off of the shelf. He ultimately opened the road to cinematography.

Lewis Hine

Lewis Hine was an American photographer and sociologist. He used his artwork to change laws and to make a statement. Specifically, he used them to change child labor laws. Hine studied sociology at a couple of universities. He had the opportunity to study at New York University and take field trips to Ellis Island and photograph the immigrants. He realized soon after that his passion was photojournalism.

Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis grew up in a family of fifteen in Denmark. He was a Danish-American reformer that practiced journalism and photography. Riis had goals of becoming a carpenter. His father did not approve of his dream. He wanted Jacob to pursue a literary career. Trying to become a carpenter and going to carpentry school was expensive. When Riis used all of his money, he decided to fight in the German-France war. His   position in the war brought him to his interest in journalism and that later led him to photography. He began  by sketching and moved to photograph plates and eventually flash photography.

Timothy O'Sullivan

Similarly to Alexander Gardner, Timothy O'Sullivan was an American photographer known for his artwork of the American Civil war. He actually joined Gardner in his work after he fought in the Civil war.  O'Sullivan was commissioned first lieutenant and fought in several battles throughout the war. When he joined Gardner, his photograph named "The Harvest of Death" was recognized as his most famous photograph. As his career continued, he followed United States president Ulysses Grant through other battles and photographed them. His work was considered to be the first record of prehistoric ruins of these wars.

Alexander Gardner

Alexander Gardner was born is Scotland and grew up there before moving to the United States to begin his career in photography. He was known for his photographs mainly of the American Civil war, but also of American presidents and their assassinations. He photographed President Lincoln and his death. Gardner began his busy life as a jeweler and also worked as an editor. His editing career for the "Glasgow Sentinel," brought him several opportunities. He later owned the "Glasgow Sentinel" and this helped him find his passion of photography. As Gardener began his photography of the American Civil War, he quickly learned how to communicate through his work and shoot quality photos. He was quickly moved up and honored as head photographer of the American Civil war.

Frederick Scott Archer

Frederick Scott Archer is known for inventing the photographic collodion process. This process is what replaced the daguerreotype. It was also known as the wet plate process. It was best for creating fine detail. It converts iodide, bromide or chloride to silver iodide, bromide, or chloride with a silver nitrate solution. Archer, the british photographer, also studied sculpture and chemistry. This is how he came up with the wet plate process. Even though he created the process, he never patented it because he considered it to be a gift to the world. Archer did not take photography for granted.

Sally Mann

American photographer, Sally Mann, lives a full life as an busy mother to three. She is married to a full time attorney that suffers from several physical illnesses that can put a burden on her life as well. Luckily it has not held her or her family back. She began her career as a photographer at Washington and Lee University where she had her first exhibition of her well known black and white photography. She created several more collections, but is best known for her third one called "Immediate Family." This collection is of her three children expressing themes and emotions from happiness to insecurity and death. When this collection became public, there was a lot of controversy over the issue of pornography. Mann photographed her daughter naked. It was later settled and decided that it was natural in the mother's eyes and in reality, harmlessly expressed the truth and innocence.

Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Margaret Cameron was also a British photographer. She was considered to be the "ugly duckling" in her wealthy family of girls. Her career as a photographer began when her daughter gifted her a camera for her forty-eighth birthday. Although she was an amateur, she was one of the best photographers of her era. Even if her efforts became tiring and bothersome to her family, Cameron would always have notable photographs of the meaningful people in her life. She either took close framed portraits, or would captured stories based on religious or literary work.

Francis Frith

Francis Frith was an english photographer, that worked in the Middle East and in some areas in the United Kingdom. He traveled taking photographs with the intentions of understanding the world from different points of view. Before he was able to embark on his journeys, he attended a quaker school and opened a cutlery business. When he left to satisfy his interest in photography, he founded the Liverpool Photographic Society. With the support of this group, and his new wife, Frith created "Francis Frith & Co." This company traveled the world and helped Frith photograph every town in the United Kingdom. He used his photographs to make postcards.

Roger Fenton

Roger Fenton was an educated British pioneer that grew up in a big wealthy family. He started his formal education studying English, math, Greek, and Latin. After he married his wife, he focused his learning on painting and art in a school in London. After he mastered that, he was assigned to go to the Crimean war to photograph and publish the troops at war. It was a long battle for survival for Fenton at war. He suffered from cholera, broken bones, and dangerous weather. He finally returned and had an exhibition of his photographs. There he became famous for his work and several reporters asked him if they could publish his work.

Felix Nadar

Felix Nadar was not only a photographer, he was also a caricaturist, novelist, journalist and had several other talents as well. Nadar also known as Gaspard- Felix Tournachon, was a French artist influenced by his compassion and inquiry. He was best known for his photography. His portraits would not only capture the detailed physical features, but they would portray the nature of the subject. Nadar's artwork was began with portraits. As he continued, he was able to make improvements and further communicate existence and levels of power in his images. His life had two major stages. In stage one, Nadar was more focused and considered to have been doing his "better" work. In stage two, he left a lot of his work to his assistants and was distracted by his other interests and research. Nadar lived a very full life; he had the opportunity to build a massive balloon, be the first to take aerial photographs, and make the first exhibition of impressionists.