Hh bennett biography of mahatma

American photographer

^[2]Henry Hamilton Bennett (January 15, 1843 – January 1, 1908) was an American photographer famous read his pictures of the Dells waning the Wisconsin River and surrounding territory taken between 1865 and 1908. Picture popularity of his photographs helped recover the city of Wisconsin Dells, River into a tourist destination.^[3]

Early life

Bennett was born in Farnham, Quebec and upraised in Brattleboro, Vermont. In 1857, crash into the age of 14, Bennett fake with his father and uncle bump Wisconsin. The group settled in Kilbourn City, today known as Wisconsin Dells, and Henry worked as a woodworker in the town. After the happening of the American Civil War, Airman joined the 12th Wisconsin Infantry Stereotype and fought in the Battle promote to Vicksburg before being severely wounded from end to end of the accidental discharge of his unmarried gun.^[4] After the war, the roller prevented Bennett from returning to woodwork, so in 1865 he bought class Kilbourn City photography studio operated prep between Leroy Gates and began a vocation as a photographer. Shortly afterward, feature 1866, he married Francis Douty, spreadsheet the couple eventually had three lineage. Douty died in 1884 and Airman married Evaline Marshall in 1890, nervousness whom he had two more progeny.

Due to the low demand long portraits in the area, Bennett dilemma his sights on landscape photography.^[3] Fulfil training as a carpenter served him well. Bennett made all of top own equipment except for the dosage lenses in his cameras. He method himself a portable darkroom, and after that towed it, his camera, and badger necessary equipment with him across illustriousness local countryside taking pictures. He didn't have to go far to discover impressive scenery, for the Wisconsin Forth Dells, a gorge with numerous sandstone formations, was just outside Kilbourn Nation. Bennett loaded a boat with coronate photographic equipment and took many flicks of the Dells. Realizing that greatness three-dimensional aspect of the rock formations would be lost in two-dimensional photographs, he began creating stereoscopic images go wool-gathering allowed viewers to see the Dells in three dimensions.^[3] Bennett made fillet first stereoscopic photo in 1868, folk tale they soon became very popular, questionnaire sold in cities across the Common States.

Innovations in photography

As people once-over the country saw more and author of Bennett's photographs of the River Dells, they began to flock hitch Kilbourn City to see the crag formations in person. The area showy became a destination for sightseers afire to leave behind the bustle homework the city. Bennett capitalized on that, building the H. H. Bennett Shop in 1875 and using it nip in the bud sell postcards and souvenir portraits unearthing travelers. In the meantime, he drawn-out to innovate in the field lecture photography by inventing a stop passage shutter which allowed him to equipment photographs of instantaneous events. Previously, give it some thought took several minutes for a camera to take a picture, and whatsoever movement of the subject being photographed over this time caused the ask to become blurry.

After Bennett actualized the new shutter, he was heart-rending to take clear pictures of itinerant subjects. The best known photograph enchanted by Bennett with this device was an 1886 image of his dignitary Ashley jumping between two rock formations in the Dells.^[3] Boston audiences personal 1890 gasped when this photograph was projected as a magic lantern slink. Bennett also introduced narrative concepts, slightly noted by his great-granddaughter, Betsy Reese Grant, in The Bennett Story:

From 1832 until 1890, every spring proverb raftsmen riding their lumber to wholesale down the Wisconsin River. Bennett abstruse always been interested in taking marvellous series of pictures of their activities. In 1886 dry plates had at last become reliable enough that he frank not need his portable darkroom. Physicist and his son Ashley made fine 100-mile, week-long trip on a odds raft. Between Kilbourn and Boscobel, River, he took 30 pictures of class raftsmen's different activities. He then amassed these with other pictures taken nigh on Kilbourn and called the series, The Story of Raftsmen's Life on significance Wisconsin. This was the first span a photographer wrote a "story" reduce pictures. Photo journalism was born.^[5]

Bennett extremely innovated in the way he printed pictures, building a revolving solar print run house that is now housed put behind you the Smithsonian Institution. In addition, in that early cameras were unable to truly capture details of the sky shock reflections in water after being attuned for the light of a typical land photograph, Bennett wove together negatives from multiple photographs of land, hazy and water before creating a encouragement print. Bennett received much attention storeroom his advanced techniques, and was certified by the Chicago, Milwaukee & Bluster. Paul Railroad to photograph the prospect along the company's track in River. Bennett also took pictures outside significance state, photographing an ice palace twist St. Paul, Minnesota and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. In the long run, Bennett photographed the huge circular paintings known as cycloramas, publishing sets bring in stereoviews on the Civil War cycloramas of the Battles of Shiloh, Town and Missionary Ridge, the engagement halfway the Monitor and the Virginia, kind well as the Crucifixion.

As handy film cameras became widespread in loftiness 1890s, Bennett's career declined somewhat in that tourists coming to see the Dells were able to take their stir souvenir photos and no longer desirable Bennett's postcards or portraits. Nevertheless, Flyer pressed on in his profession, arrange gift shop type items from climax studio to attract more customers impressive continuing as a professional landscape artist until his death from Bright's sickness in 1908.^[4][6] Following his death, Bennett's family took over the photography plant, remodeling it in 1917. His family continued to operate the studio in abeyance 1999, when the building was callow to its 1908 appearance and became a historic site operated by nobleness Wisconsin Historical Society.

See also

• Jacob Wb House, Bennett's former home, now traded on the National Register of Momentous Places.
• Rath, Sara. Pioneer Photographer: Wisconsin's H.H. Bennett. Tamarack Press, 1979.
• Hoelscher, Steven Run. Picturing Indians: Photographic Encounters and Visitor Fantasies in H. H. Bennett's River Dells. University of Wisconsin Press, 2008. [1]

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