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Home , Documentary photography, George Eastman, Instant camera, William Henry Jackson

Behind the Lens: in the Pikes Peak Region

During the nineteenth century rapid advances in photography and the development of the west went hand in hand. As the science and practice of photography grew more efficient and less expensive, Americans who might never travel west of the Mississippi River could view an astounding array of breathtaking images of mountains, canyons, and vast open spaces from the comfort of their homes. of the seemingly endless landscape and natural resources helped spur western emigration and finance railroads, town companies and businesses. It also changed the way Americans remembered themselves. Historian Martha Sandweiss notes that for Americans moving west, “photographs provided a way for these immigrants to maintain visual ties to the families and places they had left behind.” Since 1839 when the invention of the first “permanent ” was announced, photography has been a rapidly and dynamically evolving mix of the scientific and artistic. The inventors of photography are generally considered to be Joseph Nie’pce, Jacques Louis Mande’ Daguerre, and William Henry Fox Talbot, all of whom were both artists and chemists. The chemical and material processes of photography have dictated how the medium would be used and by whom. The stylistic and artistic conventions of photography have also evolved over the course of the past 175 years according to the tastes of both the producers and consumers of images. The varied ways people use photography: as memento of family and friends, container of personal memory, instrument of scientific inquiry, entertainment, documentation and evidence, promotion, tool of surveillance or an object of art – changes over time according to society’s needs and desires. The stunning scenery in our backyard has resulted in the area being one of the most photographed places in the world. William Henry Jackson (1843-1942), Laura Gilpin (1891- 1979), Harry L. Standley (1881-1951), Stanley L. Payne (1914-1983), and Myron Wood (1921- 1999) all captured a glimpse of the western landscape and people from Behind the Lens of their individual . Together they left us a stunning documentary record of the history of the Pikes Peak Region as it changed over time.

Origins of Photography in the Pikes Peak Region

In photographs, Americans found persuasive evidence of what they had, who they were, and what they could become; and in the West, nineteenth-century American photography found its most distinctive subject. - Historian Martha Sandwiess

By the time Springs was founded in 1871, three decades had passed since the invention of the . Enormous advances had taken place in the field of photography. William Henry Jackson was among the first to document the unique geological features and resources of the West for the Hayden Expeditions. Later, his commercial photographs were used in promotional booklets—such as Among the Rockies, seen here — that encouraged tourism, settlement and investment in the region.

As Americans moved westward, so too did photographers. In 1871 Civil War veteran Byron H. Gurnsey opened a small “picture gallery” at the corner of Tejon and Pikes Peak Avenue in Colorado Springs. By the time of his death in November of 1880, Gurnsey had an impressive catalog of over 200 different stereoviews featuring dramatic local scenery.

Gurnsey was the first resident of the Pikes Peak region but he was soon joined by a host of others. Drawn here by the scenery, the climate and the growing tourist trade, photographers James Thurlow, L.K. Oldroyd, and Charles Gillingham all set up shops in the 1870s. The Tele-Photo Cycle Poco featured here belonged to Alfred Freeman, a photographer who immigrated to Colorado Springs from England in 1885 and operated a photo shop on the corner of Kiowa and Tejon Streets.

Tourists and residents alike expected high quality portraits in addition to scenic views. The region’s photographers catered to this trade as well. Prior to the invention of daguerreotype photography, simple silhouettes, drawings or costly paintings were the only options available to preserve the image of a loved one. The invention of photography revolutionized the nature of portraiture.

As improvements were made in the technology of photography, the introduction of ambrotypes and tintypes provided less expensive and increasingly popular methods of . Once placed in protective cases, they fit in pockets as personal mementos of loved ones.

The introduction of photographic albumen prints made from paper coated with a layer of egg whites and silver salts in 1850 laid the groundwork for the cartes de visite craze that began in the 1860s. Patented in 1854, carte-de-visite photographs are small paper prints mounted on card stock (4 ¼ x 2 ½ inches) that were similar in size to calling cards. They became wildly

2 popular after Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte had his carte-de- visite portrait taken in 1859. The fad swiftly traveled to America and can be seen above.

Card photographs were less expensive, less fragile and could be mailed. Carte-de-visite portraits of family and friends were displayed in decorative albums. Additionally, images of actors, generals, presidents, royal family members and artwork were mass produced and widely collected. Carte-de-visites declined in popularity as larger cabinet cards (6 ½ x 4 ½ inches) allowed for group portraits and landscapes. Cabinet cards of scenic views and landmarks were sold to tourists as souvenirs.

The most popular form of photography in the 1870s was the stereoview also known as the stereograph. When viewed through a hand-held stereoscope, stereoviews provide a three- dimensional image. These cards were produced with cameras that used two side-by-side lenses 2 ½ inches apart. Two exposures are made simultaneously. When seen together through the lenses of a stereoscope viewer, each eye receives a slightly different image that results in a three-dimensional viewing experience.

The most popular stereoview images were of tourist attractions, large cities, and geological wonders. As a result, thousands of stereoviews of Pikes Peak region scenery were sold throughout the world. Stereoscopes were common forms of entertainment in nineteenth- century homes. The toy stereoscope and cards seen in this case are from around 1910 and attest to the popularity of stereoscopes into the early twentieth century.

Early photographs realistically captured shapes and textures but they could not convey . Seeking ways to compensate, studios employed “colorists” to tint and paint images with opaque pigments. Several examples of hand-tinted colorization appear in this case. By the 1860s, photographers provided elaborately painted backgrounds and props such as faux columns to make portraits more visually interesting and dramatic. PHOTOGRAPHER BIO William Henry Jackson (1843-1942)

William Henry Jackson was one of the premier photographers of his time and his images recorded the landscape with an honesty and clarity of vision unparalleled. Sweeping panoramas of the west were his trademark, although his long career included commercial photography that captured the growth of cities and industry. Despite being born and raised in the East, Jackson spent the bulk of his life documenting the West.

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From 1870-1878, he served as the official photographer of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories. These expeditions mapped and evaluated the unique natural resources and economic potential of the west for future development. Although originally intended for government purposes, Jackson’s photographs proved popular with an American public eager to glimpse western scenery.

In 1881 General William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs and the and Rio Grande Railway Company, hired Jackson to photograph his enterprises. This was the first of many promotional assignments Jackson carried out for railroads and hotels across the country. Equipped with cameras of various sizes, he used pack mules to transport several hundred pounds of gear including fragile glass plate negatives through rugged terrain to record the stunning views.

In 1897 the Detroit Photographic Company purchased Jackson’s stock of 20,000 negatives and made him a Director of the company. The financial deal proved lucrative for Jackson and he spent the remainder of his long, productive life continuing his photographic work, painting, and writing his autobiography, Time . Shortly before his death, several of Jackson’s most iconic western images were included in an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York curated by Ansel Adams.

Through the remarkable glass plate prints of pioneer photographer William Henry Jackson, viewers will witness the natural landscape and built environment of the Pikes Peak Region as it appeared in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Making Photography “An Everyday Affair” 1880-1920

Until around 1880, photography was practiced almost exclusively by professionals, scientists and the wealthy. Mastering the photographic process was difficult, cumbersome and physically demanding. In the late 1870s a “dry plate” negative process was perfected using gelatin to bind photographic emulsion to the glass plate. Dry plates could be stored for prolonged periods before use and did not require immediate processing after exposure. This eliminated the need for landscape photographers, like William Henry Jackson, to carry equipment into the field.

Founded by entrepreneur and inventor George Eastman, the Eastman Dry Plate Company of Rochester, New York began to manufacture dry plates in mass quantities. The venture would later evolve into the Eastman Company and become the most important manufacturer of photographic goods in the world. The dry plate process made photography practicable to a vast new audience of amateur photographers; however, George Eastman had an even more innovative idea in mind.

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Eastman produced a flexible roll of film on a clear celluloid base that eliminated the need for glass plates. The Kodak camera was patented in 1888. The small, hand-held camera sold for $25 and came preloaded with film. After 100 exposures, the owner mailed the camera to Rochester, New York for processing and printing. The finished photographs, initially in a circular format as seen in the case above, and the camera, loaded with a fresh roll of film were then shipped back to the owner.

Eastman’s stated goal was to make photography “an everyday affair.” The advertising slogans promised, “You press the button, we do the rest.” He succeeded beyond all expectations. Kodak manufactured 100,000 cameras in less than ten years and revolutionized photography. Now average Americans could make and preserve images of anything that seemed important; family, friends, pets, their homes and travel topped the list.

In the hands of amateurs, photographs became more spontaneous and more intimate. There was little regard for the formal conventions of professional photography. It became common for families to collect their photographs in albums; highly personalized visual records meant to contain and preserve memories. The intricately detailed red velvet photograph album seen above was created by and belonged to members of the Starsmore Family.

Between 1880 and 1920, experimentation with the chemistry of photography produced many new printing methods. , collodion, platinum, gum bichromate, and silver gelatin processes replaced albumen photographs. The blue and white photograph seen above is a cyanotype, and the beautiful portrait of Ruth Banning is a platinum print. By 1920, most black- and-white photographs were printed on silver gelatin photographic paper.

In 1904, the Rochester Panoramic Camera Co. introduced the Cirkut camera, which made up to 360-degree panoramic views on film that ranged between 6 and 20 feet in length. Panoramic photographs, usually of cityscapes or large groups of people, became a staple of professional photographers well into the twentieth century. The panoramic photograph seen here shows members of the Ogallala Sioux who performed at the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in 1922.

With the explosive growth of photography’s popularity after 1890, camera clubs and amateur associations sprouted up across the country. Juried exhibits were held annually by influential clubs in , Boston and New York, to promote photography as a fine art. The first camera club in Colorado Springs was founded in May of 1903.

In the early twentieth century, a group of experimental photographers created the first high-art form of photography known as . Seeking to emulate paintings and drawings, Pictorialists stressed the emotional, aesthetic and symbolic qualities of photographs. Gilpin practiced Pictorialism early in her career, as seen in the soft-focus image of the Broadmoor Art Academy above, but later distanced herself from the style. Gilpin made her living as a commercial photographer as illustrated by her photographs for the Nutrition Camp booklet We Won’t Neglect the Children!

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The potential for photography to be an educational tool was evident early on. Borrowing on “magic lantern” technology, the lantern slide process was developed to project glass plates images to large audiences. Lantern slide lectures on a variety of topics including: geography, art, hygiene, world cultures, and immigrant poverty were seen in theaters, schools, and lecture halls across the country. The lantern was the forerunner of today’s LCD projector and the twentieth-century slide projector.

PHOTOGRAPHER BIO Laura Gilpin (1891-1979)

For over sixty years, Laura Gilpin celebrated the beauty of the West and its people through her photography. Famous for her stunning landscapes, Ansel Adams called her “One of the most important photographers of our time.” Born at Austin Bluffs, Colorado on April 22, 1891, Laura Gilpin felt at home in the West like few other photographers of her era could.

Gilpin received her first camera in 1903 at the age of twelve. By the time she visited the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, she was infatuated with photography. For the next few years Gilpin attended eastern boarding schools, but missed the West. Later in life she credited her friendship with General William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs and the Denver and Rio Grande Railway with her fondness for nature. She described how Palmer, “would point to plants, trees and wildlife, citing their names. He taught me to know the outdoors, and especially to love it.”

On a trip back east, Gilpin along with her mother and brother sat for a portrait in New York with noted photographer Gertrude Kasebier. Once a part of Alfred Steiglitz’s Photo Secessionist Group, Kasebier and other pictorialists sought to emulate paintings and drawings. Her work greatly inspired the young Gilpin and their meeting sparked a long friendship.

Gilpin’s formal photography education took place from 1916-1918 at the Clarence H. White School in . Here, Gilpin learned the soft focus techniques and platinum paper process of the pictorialist school. In 1918 Gilpin contracted influenza and returned home to Colorado Springs. After recovering, she opened a commercial studio here and traveled throughout the Southwest and Mexico on documentary projects.

Gilpin’s most notable achievement was her documentation of the Navajo people. For many years, Gilpin accompanied her companion Betty Forster, who was a field nurse on the Navajo Reservation. There Gilpin took honest, sympathetic portraits of a people and landscape that culminated in her book, The Enduring Navaho, published in 1968. A prolific photographer of the

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West, Laura Gilpin left behind an amazing body of work when she passed away in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on November 30, 1979

The Ubiquitous Image: 1920-1970

By 1920 technological advancements made photography much simpler, faster and less expensive than it ever had been. As a result, photography became the dominant visual medium throughout the world and has remained so ever since. A photography mania, spurred in large part by a huge increase in print media as well as persuasive marketing campaigns of the large photographic manufacturers, swept the country.

Photographers like Harry L. Standley were perfectly positioned to benefit from the surge in commercial photography, photography products and the developing services needed by a public armed with cameras. Shortly after arriving in Colorado Springs in 1903, Standley and his partner Will Sode began printing mountain scenes on pillow tops. The concept proved quite popular as people enjoyed looking at mountain views before falling asleep.

In his studio at 224 North Tejon Street, Standley offered for sale a wide selection of his framed, hand-tinted Colorado mountain photographs like the one featured in the case above. He also offered the developing services that amateur photographers required. In fact, Colorado Springs residents and tourists alike had a wide variety of photo developing services available to them including overnight processing.

Improvements in the process for reproducing photographs on printing presses, led to an increase in the use of photographs in newspapers, books, magazines and promotional materials. The pamphlet One Hundred Winter Days in Colorado Springs seen above contains dozens of photographs by Standley. As the Colorado Springs economy relied heavily on the tourist trade, this type of marketing and promotion was common and offered steady employment for local photographers.

Following , further advancements in printing technology lead to the rise of the picture press, first in and later in the United States. Magazines such as: Vu, BIZ, Uhu, Lilliput and Life incorporated bold design based around photographic illustration and created a public demand for photographic images that increased during the succeeding decades.

The picture press spawned a new style of hand-held photography based on spontaneity and bearing witness that would later evolve into and . A great example of public’s desire to create a detailed yet spontaneous photographic record is the scrapbook in the case above. Labeled “The Book of Bobbie” by its creator, this collection of photographs and handwritten notations document the minute details of childhood.

Photojournalism is a branch of photography concerned with documenting current events – and informational value generally takes precedence over aesthetic content. However, every

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photographer from amateur to photojournalist makes numerous decisions before they click the . Arguably, Stan Payne’s photographs move past pure documentation and demonstrate a sophisticated aesthetic and wry sense of humor combined with impeccable timing. Unless accompanied by newspaper captions, Payne’s photographs leave the viewer with more questions than answers. Finally, editors decide how to crop images even further before they appear in print as this Colorado Springs Gazette photograph of the Falcon, Colorado train station demonstrates.

One of the most significant developments in photographic technology during the twentieth century was the appropriation of the 35mm from the cinema. The German Leitz Optics Company developed the first 35mm still camera prototype in 1913. By 1924 the Leitz Leica camera was used widely by photographers working for the European picture press. It was not until the 1959 introduction of the Nikon F single lens reflex camera that the 35 mm. format became widely adopted in the United States. Prior to switching to the smaller Japanese camera, Colorado Springs Gazette photojournalist Stan Payne used the type of 4x5 sheet film seen here.

In 1935, Kodak released , the first modern film that produced natural, life-like color photographs. Kodachrome, initially made as home film, produced a positive image meant to be projected. In 1941, Kodak released , a color negative film from which color prints could be made. While the Kodachrome process proved to be very chemically stable, retaining much of its original color, most early color negative films and color prints have suffered from fading of their color dyes.

By 1970, the vast majority of Americans owned a camera and countless photographs accumulated in photo albums, slide trays and shoe boxes. Photographs permeated every aspect of life. Important occasions and rites of passage – marriages, birthdays, holidays, school activities, and travel – were all routinely documented with photographs.

PHOTOGRAPHER BIO

Harry L. Standley (1881-1951)

Harry Landis Standley was a renowned photographer and avid mountain climber. His two passions combined to make some of the most stunning scenic photographs taken in Colorado. Born on July 28, 1881 in Arkansas City, Arkansas, his family later moved to Pueblo, Colorado, and by 1893 lived in Cripple Creek. It was here where the young boy fell in love with the mountains of Colorado and photography.

Standley left school after the sixth grade and began work at the F.A. Colburn Stationary Store. With a borrowed camera, Harry began photographing mines, miners, and the surrounding

8 landscape. By age fourteen he purchased a Pony Premo #7camera and built a darkroom. Despite the rapid changes in photographic technology throughout his career, he preferred glass plate photography due the detailed print quality.

After ten years of freelance photography in Cripple Creek, Standley moved to Colorado Springs. In 1905 he went into business with local photographer Will Sode, and later C.H. Auld. Finally, in 1921 Harry opened his own studio at 224 North Tejon Street where for decades he sold framed, hand-tinted mountain scenes to tourists and residents alike.

Mountain climbing dominated much of Standley’s personal and professional life. In addition to photographing dozens of mountains ranges throughout Colorado, the Southwest, Pacific Northwest and Alaska; Standley is credited with being the first person to ascend and photograph all of Colorado’s 14,000 foot peaks. He joined the local Saturday Knights Hiking Club, the , and in 1922 was one of the original “frozen five” members of the AdAmAn Club.

Standley also used his photographic talents to capture everyday life. The Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce commissioned him to photograph the region throughout the year. These prints depict busy street scenes, schools, parks, churches, and people enjoying the scenery and area attractions. They served as an effective marketing tool – and are as distinctive and vividly detailed as his mountain views.

Of the thousand of photographs Standley took, only twenty-one were copyrighted. When asked why, Standley replied, “I love these old Colorado mountains and it pleases me to see pictures of them get out into the world.” Standley sold his business in 1947 to Stanley Balcomb and John C. Turner. He continued to work there every day until he died in March 1951. PHOTOGRAPHER BIO Stanley L. Payne (1914-1983)

Stanley L. Payne’s long career as a photographer for the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph overlapped with the “Golden Age” of photojournalism. Payne’s photographic legacy of nearly 50,000 negatives offers the most comprehensive visual record of people, news and culture in Colorado Springs during the middle decades of the twentieth century.

Born in La Junta, Colorado in 1914, Payne received a journalism degree from the University of Colorado in 1935. After working at newspapers in Florence, Colorado and Ponca City, Oklahoma, Payne joined the staff of the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph as a reporter in

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1944. He became a photographer in 1947, Chief Photographer ten years later, and was a charter member of the National Press Photographers Association.

Technological advances in cameras and mechanical reproduction processes allowed photojournalism to flourish in the early twentieth century. By the 1930s, newspapers and magazines featured photographs prominently on their pages. As a result, the news photographer became something of a cultural icon. Stan Payne used the hand-held Graflex Speed Graphic camera with 4x5-inch sheet film which was the symbol of photojournalists in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s, Payne and other news photographers adopted smaller 35mm cameras like the Nikon F.

Influenced by the social-documentary quality of Life and Look magazines and federal government-sponsored photography projects like those of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s, photojournalists turned increasingly to human interest stories in addition to “hard news.” Payne and his colleagues focused on the details of everyday life around them. As a result, Payne’s photos tell compelling stories of individual lives – and the history of our community when viewed as a whole.

Payne left the Gazette photography department in 1976 and became the credit manager for the paper. He retired on December 31, 1982 after 38 years in Colorado Springs. Stanley L. Payne died on November 27, 1983 – but his work lives on in the Special Collections Department of the Pikes Peak Library District. Photography 1970 to the Present

Amidst the social unrest of the 1960s, the power and popularity of visual media increased significantly. The most important events of the day were captured on film, including the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, Space Race and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Presidential Candidate Bobby Kennedy.

Photos had an enormous impact on consumers, despite the growing audience for television. Life magazine and other publications relied on the influence of printed photographs and began to dedicate more space to them on their pages.

During the 1960s, the academic study of photography soared as colleges and universities established specialized programs. The new emphasis on scholarship led to a dramatic rise in the number of journals, magazines, and books published on the subject. Major museums hired curators to oversee photography collections and exhibits.

Manufacturers raced to make the most compact, convenient and inexpensive cameras. One such camera was Kodak’s 110 which offered automatic exposure and easy to load

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film cartridges. In 1977, ’s C35 AF became the first mass-produced camera on the market.

In an effort to make photography simpler and faster, Edwin Land developed instant print technology in 1947. His camera incorporated chemical developing agents into the film package, producing finished photographs within minutes of exposure. In 1972, the new Polaroid SX-70 gave consumers a foldable single-lens reflex camera that instantly developed film.

Four years later, Kodak introduced the Pleaser to compete with Polaroid. Polaroid sued for patent infringement and won a $900 million dollar settlement. Kodak was also ordered to cease making instant cameras and film. Kodak announced a trade-in program for the 16.5 million cameras that had been previously sold. After returning the camera, owners would receive a share of Kodak stock and a new camera or $50 worth of Kodak merchandise. Dissatisfied consumers filed a class action lawsuit seeking cash instead. The final settlement required owners to return the camera’s nameplate for a refund of cash and credits. The Kodak Pleaser camera seen in the case above was subject to the recall but was donated to the Museum instead.

American consumers soon began to prefer over traditional black-and-white images. In 1964, 50% of all film sold was . By 1988, this figure dropped to just 3%. As color photography came of age, concerns grew about how quickly photos faded and shifted.

The most dramatic development in photography over the past 40 years has been the introduction of digital technology. Traditional photography uses light, lenses, and light sensitive materials to create physical images, but uses electronic sensors to transform images into computer codes. In 1975, Kodak’s Steve Sasson invented the first that offered 0.01 megapixel resolution and recorded images on a cassette tape. The first commercially available digital camera, the Dycam Model 1, was released in 1990, but it took until 2004 for the sales of digital cameras to outnumber those of film cameras.

Digital photography is popular because it is immediate. There is no film to buy, load, and develop. Images can be manipulated using software rather than a darkroom. Infinite numbers of digital copies can be made and shared easily with the aid of computers. Large numbers of images can be stored on computers, portable drives, and disks.

There are many convenient features about digital photography, but there are also an equal number of preservation concerns. Traditional paper photographs can last for decades or even

11 centuries, and they can be viewed without any device. , on the other hand, depend on computers, software, and storage media that change rapidly and become obsolete over time. If digital images are not continually upgraded into the most current formats, they may become inaccessible. What is the status of your treasured family photographs? For history’s sake it is worth checking!

The offers these tips for preserving digital images: • Identify where your photos are stored • Decide which photos are most important • Organize selected images, use descriptive file names, and tag them with key words and names • Make at least two copies of your selected photos, use TIFF or JPEG 2000 format, store them on different types of media (DVD, thumb drives, external hard drive), check your photos once a year to make sure you can open them, and create new copies every five years to avoid data loss.

PHOTOGRAPHER BIO Myron Wood (1921-1999)

Although renowned for his stunning portraits of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, Myron Wood spent most of his career documenting the ordinary characters of the Front Range. Myron Gilmore Wood was born in Wilson, Oklahoma, on December 11, 1921. With a father who taught science and a mother who taught voice, Myron was raised in a home that valued both the arts and sciences. At the age of six he received his first camera, a Kodak Brownie and by eleven he began working with darkroom equipment.

Myron Wood graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in music before entering the Army in 1943. Wood became a captain in the infantry during World War II, and was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Recovering from a battle injury, he was sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1944. There he first glimpsed the unique light of the southwest – and spent the greater part of his career trying to capture it.

Accepted to the Yale Graduate School of Music in 1946, Wood soon realized “for the rest of my life I would be indoors if I stayed a musician.” Instead he studied at the Progressive School of Photography in New Haven, Connecticut. Early influences were the photography of Edward Weston and close friend Roy Emerson Stryker’s work for the Farm Security Administration. He later noted, “I found to my joy that I had wasted not one minute in my

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training as a musician when I turned to photography…there is a great deal of musical thought in my design.”

In 1947, Wood moved to Colorado Springs. He spent 10 years as Photographer and Assistant Curator for Photography at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center before rising to national prominence with his photo projects for the Ford Foundation, the Pueblo Public Library, the Waco Foundation and the Pikes Peak Regional Library. From 1958 until 1988, Wood was also the official photographer for the Colorado College.

Despite his photojournalistic forays, Wood is regarded as a fine art photographer. Unlike scientific or news photography— fine art photography values the photographer’s perception. Wood’s insight shines through his work, showing both his affection for the American West and his crisp aesthetic of sharp focus and high contrast. Woods passed away at his Colorado Springs home on July 7, 1999. His impressive archive is housed in the Special Collections Department of the Pikes Peak Library District. The Social

Photography has been described as the most “democratic” art form. Prior to the invention of photography and the subsequent mass production of cameras, the only means to preserve a loved one’s image was through painting and drawing – both typically requiring a trained artist at considerable expense.

After George Eastman perfected and patented and the first Kodak cameras in the 1880s, photography became easier and more affordable for the average person. “To Kodak” became a verb as a new generation of amateur photographers began documenting their everyday lives. Collections of images were kept in decorative albums adorning tables in parlors and sitting rooms. When friends or neighbors paid a visit, albums served as a conversation piece and guests customarily perused them.

Stereoscopes were an educational and entertaining form of photography that allowed for a three-dimensional experience. Stereograph cards of natural wonders, ancient ruins and cities around the world proved immensely popular from the 1860s. With mass production the cards and handheld devices became an increasingly portable and widely used form of entertainment in an era of before television, radio and phonograph.

Photographs also proved comforting to nineteenth-century Americans. As historian Martha Sandweiss notes, “the ordinary American could see what he or she had looked like as a child, gaze at the visage of a deceased relative, or stare into the eyes of a loved one who had set out to seek his or her fortune in the west.” Letters illustrate this emotional impulse, “I want you to

13 have your and Sue’s photograph taken and send me one each will you. I have Anna and Franks and want yours and Sue’s to make up the family…I bought a fine album the other day for $25.00 and would like to have all my friends in it.”

Today most people consider their photographs irreplaceable. They serve as containers of memory that help provide meaning and definition to our lives. Although now common-place and taken for granted, photographs are ironically mong our most important possessions as illustrated by people fleeing natural disasters with only their family, pets and photograph albums.

People treasure their photographs as they are both ephemeral and timeless. What about you – can you imagine a world without photography? PHOTOGRAPHER BIO Sara Jackson Loomis (1878-1965)

Sarah Loomis came of age as photography became accessible to the public. As a result, her life and our community are well documented. Sara was born in Rochester, New York on October 26, 1878, and moved with her family to Colorado Springs as young girl. Living in a stately home on North Tejon Street, Sara attended the Cutler Academy at Colorado College.

In the early 1890s Sara became interested and quite proficient at photography, which was then known as “Kodaking.” She began to document her everyday life, important events, friends, family, pets and her travels. She kept detailed daily diaries and journals that recorded the subjects of her images.

While Sara was merely documenting day-to-day scenes, her vast archive of 20,000 images now provides a remarkably rare glimpse into her world. As a young woman from an affluent Colorado Springs family, Sara had both the economic resources to pay for her photography hobby and the leisure time necessary to be so prolific.

In 1909, Sara married Dr. Philip A. Loomis, a protégé of pioneer tuberculosis researcher and physician Dr. Edwin Solly. Philip Loomis was born in Chicago in 1875 and graduated from Rush Medical College in 1904. During medical school, he contracted tuberculosis and was advised to regain his health in the West. Loomis purchased a round-trip ticket from Chicago to Colorado Springs, but once here he decided to stay.

Dr. Loomis became a renowned cardiac specialist and later in life gained recognition as an award-winning hybridizer of irises. Many of the gardens in Colorado Springs contain specimens

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that reflect Dr. Loomis’ contributions to botanical studies. The Loomis iris beds outside the Pikes Peak Library District’s East Branch location are a living legacy of his work.

Sara and Philip Loomis raised their two children Barbara Loomis Woodward and Philip Loomis Jr. in their beautiful home at 1414 Culebra in the Old North End of Colorado Springs. The family traveled frequently in addition to owning vacation homes on both coasts. The children attended private schools in Colorado Springs, California and in the east.

Throughout her long life, Sara continued to photograph the people and places she loved. Her vast collection of photograph albums, diaries and notebooks provides evidence of a life well lived – Behind the Lens. Kodaking

Photography revolutionized the lives of average Americans in the late nineteenth century. With this new tool people could literally stop time. The visual records created of everyday life serve as powerful evidence to modern- day historians.

In its initial years, photography had largely been the domain of professionals. As photographic technology advanced, cameras soon became a fixture in middle-class lives. This dramatic shift is largely the work of George Eastman, who patented both roll film and the Kodak camera in the 1880s. Eastman’s stated goal was to make photography “an everyday affair.”

The original Kodak camera and film cost $25.00. After taking 100 photographs, users mailed the camera to Rochester, New York for developing. Prints were made and new film inserted all for $10.00. By 1900, the Kodak camera cost $1.00 and was increasingly affordable to the growing American middle class who were eager to document their families, homes and vacations.

During Sara Jackson Loomis’ early life, the term Kodak became a verb, meaning to photograph. Americans became crazy about going “Kodaking.” They wrote about it in their diaries and they labeled their photographs with the word. Eastman later admitted to inventing the term Kodak “out of thin air.” He thought it was “catchy” and liked how it sounded. People like Sara Jackson Loomis could easily “Kodak” their lives, because as George Eastman famously stated: “You push the button and we do all the rest!”

Sara Jackson Loomis Collection, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, Courtesy of the Estate of Barbara Tyler.

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Daguerreotypes

After Louis Daguerre unveiled his newly invented process at the 1839 meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, American photographers quickly copied his process to create their own “mirrors with a memory.” By the 1850s professional photographers could be found in every major city in the country. Enterprising daguerreotypists invited prominent actors and political figures into their studios for free portraits in order to drum up business. Their plan worked as people flocked to have their photograph taken with this marvelous new invention.

A daguerreotype consists of a copper plate with a highly polished silver surface sensitized by iodine fumes. These plates were exposed in a camera and then developed with poisonous mercury vapor, fixed with immersion in salt or sodium thiosulfate and toned with gold chloride. The fragile surface is protected by glass, a brass mat and an ornate leather or molded paper case. The image is a mirrored negative that appears as a positive and must be viewed at exactly the right angle to be visible. Every daguerreotype was unique and the only method of reproduction of these images was re-daguerreotyping the original.

An industry of portrait photography developed from the daguerreotype. The early trade was controlled by professional photographers who could handle the chemicals and the many complex steps of the process. However, photography involved artistry as well. The public expected photographers to capture both their physical likeness and their inner character.

The process of making proved difficult for photographers and sitters alike. As historian has written, “…of more importance was the apparent handicap of the long exposure time. It was hard work to be daguerreotyped; you had to cooperate with the operator, forcing yourself not only to sit still for about half a minute. If you moved the picture was ruined; if you could not put yourself at ease in spite of the discomfort the result was so forced that it was a failure."

To help their patrons sit still through long exposure times, many studios used neck clamps on sitters (especially children) to keep them from moving. Strong lighting was important to the success of daguerreotype images, therefore subjects were often photographed in a room possessing either a large skylight or a window with a northwestern light aspect. Ambrotypes and Tintypes

As always, the need to reduce production time and costs spurred advancements in photographic processes. In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer introduced the wet collodion process, a process which used a base material coated in a mixture of sticky salts that was then soaked in silver nitrate, exposed in a camera, and developed while wet.

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Collodion emulsions were used to produce ambrotypes, tintypes and wet plate negatives. The ambrotype was a glass wet collodion negative backed with dark material to appear as a positive image. Like daguerreotypes, ambrotypes featured decorative cases, but were far less expensive. Although ambrotypes generally lacked the brilliancy and sharpness of daguerreotypes, they were popular with sitters and easier to produce.

By the 1860s, tintypes also known as ferrotypes became popular in the United States. Produced on a black enameled iron plate, a tintype could be coated, exposed, and processed in about a minute, making it a perfect process for souvenir photography. Collodion wet plate negatives, negatives produced on hand-cut glass, were introduced in the United States around 1855 and used until the 1880s.

Sturdy tintypes proved extremely useful — they could be collected in albums, mailed or carried easily in a pocket. Due to the simpler process requiring fewer materials, tintypes were significantly less expensive than other types of photography and were therefore extremely popular with Americans seeking a more casual approach to portrait photography.

Cased Image Glossary of Terms:

Brass Mat: Used to frame the image and provides a protective space between the daguerreotype plate and the cover glass.

Case: The most common cases are made of wood covered in tooled leather, embossed paper or velvet. In 1854, thermal plastic “Union” cases noted for their elaborate designs came into use.

Preserver: Thin brass binding that holds the image, brass mat and glass cover together.

Photography of American Indians

A surviving daguerreotype portrait of Hawaiian chief Timoteo Ha’alilio taken in 1843 is the earliest known photograph of a native person from territory that would later become part of the United States. The young man was on a diplomatic mission to Paris, France in an effort to secure Hawaiian independence and sought a portrait to commemorate his journey. Ha’alilio clearly understood the cultural power of photography and his interest in the new technology illustrates how American Indians utilized photography to record family members and important events. However, subsequent photographs of American Indians and the various ways the imagery was utilized to promote certain places, products and services deserves more scrutiny.

With the development of glass plate negative processes in the 1850s, the photography of American Indians changed substantially. Once photographs could be reproduced multiple times

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via paper prints the commercial potential of photography expanded tremendously. With the new accessibility of paper photographs nineteenth-century Americans proved especially eager to “visualize” the landscape and people of the west. With an ever-increasing market for photographs of American Indians, the portrait sitter no longer retained personal control of the image or how it would be used to illustrate books, sheet-music, tobacco, tin cans or medicine bottles.

Portraits of American Indians could also be utilized for pseudo-scientific or ideological purposes. Edward Curtis proved to be the most prolific photographer of American Indians with his twenty volume project, The North American Indian (1907-1930.) He titled his most famous image, “The Vanishing Race,” which captures both his documentary intent but unfortunately also contributed to nineteenth-century romantic and stereotypical notions of American Indians in the west.

Unfortunately, the most persistent stereotype is the myth that American Indians believed “photographs would steal their souls.” This gross generalization ignores a range of beliefs and also downplays the realization by American Indians that their images were being marketed in ways they could not foresee or control. However, throughout the nineteenth century the medium proved a persistent marketing tool for the development of the West — including Colorado Springs. Welcome to the Emery Studio!

According to the Colorado Springs Weekly Gazette, Charles Emery purchased the photographic gallery and business of Mr. D.B. Chase at 18 South Tejon Street in 1892. The Gazette reported that, “Mr. Emery is an experienced photographer and will keep pace in all the latest novelties and improvements in the photographic art.”

Due to his growing business, Charles Emery purchased a lot on the southeast corner of Kiowa and Cascade in 1901 for $17,000. The lot had a frontage of 50 feet on Cascade Avenue and 20 feet on Kiowa Street which allowed for ample amounts of sunlight to come into his studio throughout the day.

The two story cream brick studio housed a large reception room, business office, and portrait studio in addition to retouching, finishing, printing and dark rooms. With luxurious furnishings, an impressive façade and a cupola, the building cost over $10,000 and was as beautiful as it was functional.

To cater to amateur photographers, Emery carried Kodak cameras, supplies and offered developing services in his studio. With the introduction of less expensive cameras and roll film,

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His reputation for high quality work guaranteed him a thriving business in Colorado Springs. A 1901 Gazette article noted, “…the rare excellence of the work of such an artist as Mr. Emery was appreciated in Colorado Springs and he was able to hold the best local trade as well as to secure very liberal patronage on the part of tourists passing through the state and of the health and pleasure seekers temporarily residing in the city.”

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