The collection contains original negatives on glass and film, positives in black and white, and color and many other photography related materials comprising the entire history of photography dating back to the 1870s and encompasses the full spectrum of the photographic medium related to the history of photography.
The subject matter captured by early photographers is extensive ~ with the common themes associated with the Pacific Northwest and its natural and cultural landscape well represented.
beautiful landscapes, seascapes, soaring mountains, old-growth forests, and the forest product and seafood industries that relied on the abundance of natural resources here.
Native Americans, multicultural pioneers, and those seeking to carve out a homestead created a government in this land bountiful of rain, trees, and salmon. Eventually, some would try to conquer our highest mountains. So, outdoor activities such as fishing, hunting, hiking, skiing, and climbing were second nature here.
transportation methods from Indian canoes to steam and gas. Sidewheel steamboats, tugboats, rowboats, and beautiful yachts ply our Salish Sea to this day. railroads cut through forests and mountains moving people and goods from one dusty main street to another. Here population growth was inevitable and emerged into the new modern cities of today.
While I concentrated on collecting and preserving negatives, photographs, and photographers located within the Southern Puget Sound region of the State of Washington ~ there are photographs from thirty-five other states and from over twenty countries in my collection. If you don't see what you're looking for, inquire. I will locate photographs for you if I don't have them in my collection.
ARTISTS
Artist pages containing photographs and biographies will be online soon
IMPORTANCE OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN HISTORY
Ken Burns's films have shown us all the value of Visuals in learning and teaching History. American history is becoming more inclusive and old photographs are playing vital role in continuing exploration of the truth - beyond historical writings. What would we know about time past and the people ~ without photographs? Every picture truly tells a myriad of stories and may answer questions about us and our environment - asked.
Susan at the light table examining an 8x10 negative., 1984 by Carl Cook
I was born and raised in the Southern Puget Sound region of the Salish Sea. I learned photography from my father and have been taking my own photographs since I purchased my first box camera by sending in cereal box tops in 1957. I have been a professional photographer since 1976 and formally created The Susan Parish Collection of Photography after purchasing The Jeffers Studio Collection in 1982. In 1992, I created Shadow Catchers as the distributor of photographic based products using images Licensed from my private collection. Contact me with any questions. Contact Page.
Susan Parish