Educational Media Reviews Online

This video, in the Rocky Mountain Legacy Series, suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. The title on the cassette case and in the distributor's catalog reads Early Photographers, but the opening sequence in the video clearly indicates that the title is Early Colorado Photographers. This second title is much more accurate in that the video covers 19th century photographers who worked in Colorado, including famous photographers whose works are in major historical collections (e.g. William Henry Jackson), as well as some relatively obscure photographers who worked in small Colorado towns, whose photographs have not survived (e.g. Sophie Herkules, a portrait photographer who worked in Trinidad in the 1880s and 1890s).

The highlight of this video is a 10-minute segment about Oliver Aultmann, a portrait photographer in Trinidad, and his son Glenn. Thousands of his negatives are in the collection of the Colorado Historical Society. Remarkably, his son Glenn has continued the tradition -- today he uses much of the same equipment and many of the same techniques that his father used around the turn of the century.

There are a few weaknesses. The video should have shown more photographs. The segment on William Henry Jackson, for example, showed only a few well-known photographs, focusing on the well-documented negatives that he "enhanced". And at times the video frustrates viewers because it fails to show the spelling of the names of these early photographers. The weakest segment is a 5-minute talking-head explanation of the mechanics of taking a photograph in the late 1800s. A demonstration would have been much more interesting and captivating.

Even with these shortcomings, it is an excellent introduction to early photography in Colorado. It has won several awards, including the first place Broadcasters Award, the Cowboy Hall of Fame's Wrangler Award, and the National Educational Media Network's Bronze Apple Award. It is recommended for high school and undergraduate students, and for others with an interest in the history of photography or in the history of Colorado and the west. It will be a useful addition for high school media centers and for public and university media collections.