Frederic ier

1909 · 76936 — Rochester: Eastman Kodak Company 1909. First edition. Small octavo. 32 pp. including eleven photographs of Indians and Southwest scenes taken by Monsen using a Kodak. Publisher's color pictorial wrappers. Minimal wear along spine. A very good copy.F. I. Monsen was the photographer on such notable survey expeditions as the Death Valley expedition in 1893 and the Yosemite National Park survey of 1896. He was an intrepid explorer and made extensive trips to Baja in 1892. By this time 1909 Monsen had formed a company to take well-heeled tourists through the deserts and canyons of the Southwest. "Over a period of eighteen years Mr. Monsen's photographic journey took him throughout the southwestern United States the California mountains and Mexico. He became the first professional photographer to record the daily lives of the Hopi and Navajo. Kodak was Mr. Monsen's camera of choice and he traveled with three small Kodaks for their ease of portability. They could be easily strapped to his belt which enabled him to snap candid shots of tribal life. He remembered all too well the unnatural poses necessitated by the dry plate process but the Kodak enabled Mr. Monsen to capture natural expressions because his subjects were often blissfully unaware they were being photographed" Historic Camera. One of the photographs in this publication shows Monsen sitting on the ground playing with a group of Navajo children. He died in Pasadena in 1929. Eastman Kodak Company unknown