Carleton Watkins

Carleton Watkins (1829–1916) was a pioneering American photographer celebrated for his monumental large-format photographs of the American West, particularly Yosemite Valley and California's landscapes. Working with mammoth-plate cameras, he produced technically masterful images that combined artistic sensibility with documentary precision, helping to shape public perception of the western wilderness. His photographs were instrumental in the establishment of Yosemite as a protected national space and profoundly influenced landscape photography and American art history.