29 Interesting Vintage Photographs of Photographers Posing with Their Cameras from the 19th Century

There is something very immediate and wonderful to see actual images that show the pride and affection of photographers from many eras as they pose with their cameras. Here are some of interesting vintage photographs of photographers from Beverly's Flickr collection.

This gentleman has passed dapper and is approaching a lampoon representation of an artiste! The floppy polka dot bow tie and bunch of flowers might be his everyday dress but it feels to us as if he is having some fun or playing a part. He holds the bulb of a pneumatic shutter mounted on a large view camera. His pocket watch is in hand to time the exposure.

This cabinet card shows a mustached man with a folding camera in a studio setting.

In this cabinet card a young man uncaps the lens of his tripod mounted camera to make an exposure. In spite of the caped coat, grass, and landscape background it was taken in a studio. The background is unusual because it seems to be painted directly on the wall rather than on canvas. The landscape has been painted over the baseboard of the wall. The photograph is by Whitley of Elmira, NY.

A well dressed young man inserts a film holder into a folding plate camera on a tripod in this oval cut photograph on a heavy black mat. The photographer's name is embossed in hard to read script but the location, Hancock, Michigan is clear.

Two women in hoop skirts tease a photographer in this albumen print taken from an album of Mount Savage, Maryland photographs. The dresses suggest the 1850s/60s.

Tintype of 3 young women with studio camera. The cryptic writing reads "The Three Damnid" or "Danmid" Wilhemina Greek Slave & Damnid or Danmid". Perhaps they were referring to the Danaïds, daughters of Danaüs in Greek mythology painted by Burne-Jones. "Greek Slave" seems to be a reference to Hiram Powers famous stature but these young ladies are certainly more completely dressed than she! Wilhemina has defeated us as an art history reference.

Samuel F. B. Morse with his camera. The albumen photograph by A. Bogardus of New York shows an older Morse with his daguerreotype camera beside him on a table. In addition to his accomplishments as a painter and inventor of the telegraph Morse was a very early practitioner of the daguerreotype process. He was given a demonstration by Daguerre himself in 1839 before the public presentation. Morse taught the process to a succession of eager American photographers, including Mathew Brady.

Dr. Hermann Wilhelm Vogel poses with his camera in an oval cut albumen print mounted on a gold and black decorative page. The handwritten text reads "your old friend H. Vogel" and we can not determine if it is written or printed on the mount. Vogel was a famous figure in 19th century photography and well known as the teacher of Alfred Steiglitz.

This is a collodion negative that has been mounted as a lantern slide. It has been labeled by the photographer "Wet col neg Wet col positive". The paper mat tells us it was made in 1873 in Belvidere, New Jersey. It names the young men (it appears that the young women did not rate naming) are H. W. Hazard and John C. Browne. The camera peeks out of the mat on the left side but the dark tent, buckets, and other supplies give us a delightful window on what was involved in an afternoon of photographing in 1873.

In this tintype a young man stands beside a table holding a camera.

The clumsily hung backdrop says interior but the real looking grass under the two young men says outdoor.

This European carte-de-visite is by W. Freudentheil. It seems unlikely that the grim faced little boy in the strange coat could manage the large stereo camera beside him.

This trimmed amateur photograph is not identified. The tripod appears to be homemade but the camera under the darkcloth is a real box camera.

A cyanotype self portrait with a folding camera taken in a mirror.

A young woman in a tinted blue dress and her camera are reflected in a large mirror. The left side shows a double image of a chair and the wall paper in the beveled edge of the mirror. This real photo postcard is marked "Rébublique Française" and "Carte Postale".

This image is half a stereo card by G.S. Irish of Glen's Falls, N.Y. The Fort William Henry Hotel, Lake George, N.Y.; the photographer; and his stereo camera are reflected in a mirrored gazing ball.

This stereo card is labeled "Finley & Sons, Photographers, Canandaigua, N.Y." On the back is a label "View at Sonnenberg, the residence of F.F.Thompson, Canandaigua, N.Y." and in ink "The Glass Bubble". Reflected in the gazing ball is a house and garden, a stereo camera on a tripod and two men reclining on the path. The "Artistic" size mount suggests a 1870s date.

This image called "Focusing" by Miss Emily V. Clarkson was printed by the NN Photogravure. company Since we are a couple absorbed in all things photographic we find this couple sharing a darkcloth especially poignant. Why, however, is he wearing that striped coat and cap?

This is half of a stereo card that is marked "E. M. Johnson, Photographer, Crown Point, N.Y.". Mr. Johnson wears a rather bazarre printed coat while he photographs a couple.

Young woman is standing behind a camera on a tripod in a back garden.

This is half of a stereo card that is marked "Horace D. Udall, Landscape Photographer". We can assume that the man inside the darktent is Horace or his assistant. The location is not marked but the printer of the label on the back is identified as the Cleveland Foundry.

Cyanotype of a photographer with a cable release in his hand in a field, 1893.

The print shows some free silver in the shadows but the appeal of the young person, a boy we thought, proudly showing off a Graflex type camera was immediate.

Photographer with view camera in the median of Green Street in Augusta, Georgia.The camera on a tripod is from the dry plate era, late 19th or early 20th century. Two young boys stand with the photographer in a derby in the median of a wide city boulevard lined with large residences. On the right is a carriage with a mounting block and on the left a carriage with a horse. There is a monument in the distance and there appear to be electric light strung across the median.

Lady photographing a dog with a view camera

This is a tintype from the Cliff House Studio in San Francisco made sometime in the early 29th century before it burned in 1907. I have another tintype with the same backdrop and they appear on the market regularly. The seated woman has a large box camera on her lap.

Edmanson The Ventriloquist photographs his Dummy RPPC. Robert Edmanson (1890-1949) was an English magician and ventriloquist.

Self portrait of a photographer, ca 1860s. Since it bears the backmark of Wm. Giles, West Aurora, Illinois, it must be him. The 1870 census lists William Giles as a photographer in the 3rd Ward, Aurora, Kane County, Illinois.

This stereo card, with an 1882 copyright, shows the photographic party of Edward L. Wilson in Egypt.. The title of the card is "Photographing Cephren and Mencheres" from the series "Scenes in the Orient".

(via Beverly's Flickr)