Carleton E. Watkins photographs

Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916) was a landscape and view photographer based in San Francisco. Watkins was born in Oneonta, New York on November 11, 1829, the eldest of eight children. Watkins traveled to California seeking opportunities provided by the gold rush. He worked in California delivering supplies to mining operations. After the Sacramento city fire in 1852 Watkins set out to be a professional photographer. He was employed by several established photographers between 1852 and 1854, including Robert Vance. Watkins began working on his own, doing commissions for publishers and individuals starting in 1858. He established his reputation as a landscape photographer with his work photographing Yosemite with 18 x 22 inch glass plates and a stereoscopic camera. Watkins won a number of awards during his career including the 1865 award for Mountain Views at the Mechanics' Institute Exhibition in San Francisco and the 1867 medal for landscape photographs at the Paris International Exposition. Watkins began copyrighting his work in 1867. In 1867 Watkins traveled to Oregon photographing Portland and the Columbia River. Watkins also photographed Northern California, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Utah during his career. In 1871 Watkins lost his studio and negatives to creditors. He began rebuilding his collection by revisiting sites he had previously photographed and began releasing them as the Watkins New Series. Subjects of the Watkins New Series include the Central Pacific Railroad, Sierra Nevada mining, Lake Tahoe, Big Trees, Virginia City, southern California, Arizona, the Pacific Northwest, Yellowstone, and extensive coverage of San Francisco and the Bay Area. In 1879 Watkins married Frances Sneade. The earthquake of 1906 destroyed Watkins studio along with the negatives of his life's work. Watkins died on June 23, 1916 at the age of eighty-seven.

“Carleton Watkins.” The Photographs of Carleton Watkins. Last updated 2003. http://www.carletonwatkins.org/about_watkins.php.