Walt Whitman, 1854, photo attributed to Gabriel Harrison
I’m fascinated by early photography, particularly Daguerrotypes and one of these days I hope to acquire some. In my regular internet browsing I came across this article. I hadn’t heard of Gabriel Harrison before, but it seems that he was one of the more renowned photographers of his time.
Gabriel Harrison was a true character and 19th century Renaissance Man. Wikipedia defines a Renaissance Man as, "a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas." That was Harrison, a man who lived a life devoted to the various Arts including Daguerrean Fine Art.
The Antique and Classic Cameras article doesn’t provide a lot of information (although it does provide a link to a very useful article: Gabriel Harrison – The Poetic Daguerrean by Grant B. Romer )
so I looked around on the internet and came across these two pieces:
S. J. Burr, “Gabriel Harrison and the Daguerrean Art,” March 1851. Published in: Photographic Art-Journal (New York) 1:3 (March 1851): 169–77.