Early Landscape Photographers

Even before the dry plate process was invented, which made portability a lot easier, there were several people practicing landscape photography, and the most important landscape photographers of the time were photographing the western landscape of the United States.

Here are three important early landscape photographers:


William Henry Jackson. (1843-1942)

William Henry Jackson was a colorful fellow who lived to nearly 100 years old.  His photographs of Yellowstone led to that area being declared a national park.  The first National Park in the World.

You can get an overview of his life here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Jackson

And here is a video about his life:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAtM0w3LHN4


Timothy O'Sullivan, (1840-1882)

Timothy O'Sullivan started out by photographing the Civil War on Mathew' Brady's team, but after the Civil War, he headed west and photographed the wide-open landscapes.

You can get an overview of his life here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_H._O%27Sullivan

Here is a video about some aspects of his life:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqklwtqzc28


Carleton Watkins (1829-1916)

Carleton Watkins was largely responsible for getting Yosemite preserved by the United States Government (during the Civil War), although it didn't start as a National Park, it led to the creation of other National Parks later on.

You can get an overview of his life here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carleton_Watkins

At this link, you can get an overview of his work.

Here is a video that summarizes his life:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkR7y-fZP8k

Here is another video about his work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjWAFgny2L8


Other resources

Here is a link to the New York Public Library's collection of early landscape photographs.

Here is a video that ties the past to the present.


And finally, a compositional technique:

Negative Space - this is a composition where a large part of the picture is "negative space".

Here is a video that describes this compositional technique.

Here is another video that describes it with examples from famous photographers.