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.