William Notman (1826-1891) emigrated from Scotland to Montreal, where he established his photography studio. The first Canadian photographer with an international reputation, Notman opened additional studios across Canada and the United States to cater to the public’s growing fascination with photography.

Photography during the mid-19th century was not a simple process. The typical tourist generally did not carry a camera and much of the Notman studio’s images were taken with the tourist’s needs in mind. Visitors would look through Notman’s picture books and chose views to buy individually mounted or perhaps made up into an album and have a portrait taken as well. A gift of his photographs delivered to Queen Victoria pleased her so much that she named him “Photographer to the Queen.”

He was highly regarded by his colleagues for his innovative photography, and held patents for some of the techniques he developed. His work won awards at exhibitions in Montreal, London, Paris, and in Australia.

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