Traveling Photographers and Photography Studios

 Traveling Photographers and Photography Studios

Cameras help us remember our ancestors and history. To look upon a photograph is to experience the past, whether it was only yesterday or hundreds of years ago. Taking photos today is preserving the past, for tomorrow will come and yesterday will be history.

 In the last half of the nineteenth century, the development and increasing recognition of the art of photography rose to popular demand. As the techniques of photography became less cumbersome, transporting equipment became more practical. Photographers opened their own galleries or studios in towns, while some loaded their horse-drawn wagons and hit the road as traveling photographers.

 In the early days of traveling photographers, they documented scenes of everyday life as well as historical monuments and places. They sold their pictures to tourists who collected them as souvenirs of their travels. Many were photojournalists scouring the nation’s countryside searching for those interesting and important daily life images. Here are photos of my 2nd great-grandparents, David Jefferson and Christina (Hunt) Utter: 

       

Traveling photographers used many modes of transportation to get from one place to another. Some used ponies, horses, and mules to haul the camera and equipment while he walked throughout neighborhoods offering to take pictures of anyone interested. A woman recounts that her mother used a photographer and his pony when he came by their home. The man set up his equipment, sat the little girl atop the pony, and posed the pony in an appealing position, snapping the photo. It was a cherished and prized photograph. These photos are of Elijah Burton and his first wife, Mary Jane and the second is of Elijah with his second wife, Mary Magdalene.  Note the difference in the backgrounds of the photos.  

     

L.E. Deubler used a bicycle to carry his camera and equipment, riding throughout Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas in the early 1900s. Charles Allonby, born in England, came to the United States in 1900. He was one of the early photojournalists who was hired to travel the states finding interesting people to write about and taking photos to accompany the stories. He lived in several states before coming to Neosho, Missouri. Allonby photographed many of my family’s reunions that were held at the Big Spring Park, in Neosho. 

Fields Photography was once a leading photographer who, for many years, traveled the Ozarks taking photos of many places, events, and people. Fred Fields and his wife and son grew their business in Cassville, Missouri. Upon their deaths, the Fields Photo Archives is now housed in the Barry County Museum in Cassville. Visitors to the archives can search the files of negatives, and then order those long-gone photos. Here's one of my family line, taken at Fields Photo Shop: 

Victorian photography studios, or galleries, were a popular place to visit. From my family photo collection, I know there were many such studios in our area. Due to prolonged exposure times, photographers used special props to help keep their subjects still while sitting and waiting. 

         

         

These two photos have the same background images with more or less props. They are of the same family line, Elijah B. Utter. 

Look at your photographs and the background of them, especially those that are vintage. Many times, the backdrop features a painted outdoor scene, draperies with a window, or other interesting backdrop. Some of the Victorian photographs I own are from the Paris Art Studio and H.D. McMahan, a traveling photographer in Cassville, Missouri. Other photos are imprinted with the names of the Sims Art Studio in the Opera House block in Monett, Missouri, and the Fogel Postal Studio of Joplin, Missouri.

 

The above photo has the studio imprint at the bottom of it. It's a gorgeous print! Imprints can be found usually on the front side of photos, but at other times will have it on the back. Sometimes the photo card will have the studio’s advertisement specializing in all kinds of portraiture in crayon, ink, oil, or watercolors.  Here are a few more from my collection: 

 

Today, some photographers travel to schools and organizations. At one of our family reunions, we used a local photographer who took beloved photos of everyone gathered together. Travel photographers enjoy their career scouring the world capturing gorgeous photographs of land, animals, and people, and publishing them in magazines and other media.  

 I am fortunate to own many antique and vintage photos! In many of the pictures, I wonder if a traveling photographer snapped them. Because of the nature of the photo with the people and their location, they may have been used in various magazines and journals across the country. Many of my relatives owned cameras and patronized the local photography studios. Here are a few that show the studio’s information imprinted on the picture. My beautiful families sat for portraits with their children and their beloved pets. I’m forever grateful that they did.