Figure 1.--This CDV porrait is undared, but we believe would have been taken in the early-1870s The studio was Douglas Bros. who were 'traveling photoraphers'. We have not been able to find any information about them. We suspect they operated from a railroad car.

Most American photographic studios were located in cities and small towns. There were also ways of getting portrait taken outside the studios. We notice photographers operating with booths setup at carnivals, state fairs, and other popular attractions. These were low budget basic studios, often producing tin-types, often for pennies. Some carnival/state fair photographers had mobile studios. Not all itinerant photographers made tintypes. Over time they began to offer paper pints, although we continue to see tin-types into the early-20th century. were also available for sale. The practice of the itinerant photographer faded away in the 1940s, as more and more people owned their own Another form of photography was street photography which developed as cameras became less bulky and processing more efficient, primarily after the turn-of-the 20th century. Photographers often set up their cameras with tripods on bustling city streets to catch passersby. Over time itinerant photography declined as more and more people had easy to use an inexpensive cameras. We also notice traveling photographers, mostly in the 19th century. They commonly operated in a railroad car, riverboat suite, or even a wagon. We believe wagon studios were not very common, but admittedly our information is very limited. They traveled from place to place, taking mostly portraits, but other photographs as well. This included all the major 19th century photographic types: Dags, Ambros, tin-types/ferro-types, and albumen prints (CDVs and cabinet cards). Most of the work from these studios were the albumen prints. As seen in the examples below, cameras.

Created: 3:52 AM 7/3/2012
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Last updated: 73:43 PM 4/12/2024