Carleton Watkins

@ Nederlands fotomuseum Rotterdam

Carleton E. Watkins (November 11, 1829 - June 23, 1916) was a noted 19th-century California photographer. He became interested in landscape photography and soon started making photographs of California mining scenes and of Yosemite Valley. He experimented with several new photographic techniques, and eventually favored his "Mammoth Camera," which used large glass plate negatives, and a stereographic camera. He became famous for his series of photographs and historic stereoviews of Yosemite Valley in the 1860s that helped influence Congress' decision to establish the valley as a National Park in 1864. Watkins also took a variety of images of California and Oregon in the 1870s and later. Watkins accompanied painter William Keith on at least one western expedition. LINK nederlandsfotomuseum