H. H. Bennett
Encyclopedia
Dells of the Wisconsin River
thumb|250px|Dells of the Wisconsin RiverThe Dells of the Wisconsin River — also called the Wisconsin Dells — is a 5-mile gorge on the Wisconsin River in southern Wisconsin, USA...
and surrounding region taken between 1865 and 1908. The popularity of his photographs helped turn the city of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Dells is a city in south-central Wisconsin, with a population of 2,418 as of the 2000 census. It straddles four counties: Adams, Columbia, Juneau, and Sauk. The city takes its name from the dells of the Wisconsin River, a scenic, glacially formed gorge that features striking sandstone...
into a major tourist destination.
Early life
H. H. Bennett was born in Farnham, Lower CanadaFarnham, Quebec
Farnham is a town located in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Brome-Missisquoi regional county municipality, in the administrative region of Montérégie. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 7,809, making it the second most populated community in the RCM.- History :The...
, but was raised in Brattleboro, Vermont
Brattleboro, Vermont
Brattleboro, originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States, located in the southeast corner of the state, along the state line with New Hampshire. The population was 12,046 at the 2010 census...
. In 1857, Bennett moved with his father and uncle to Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. The group settled in Kilbourn City, today known as Wisconsin Dells, and Henry worked as a carpenter in the town. After the outbreak of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Bennett joined the army and fought in the Battle of Vicksburg
Battle of Vicksburg
The Siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. John C...
before being severely wounded by the accidental discharge of his own gun. After the war, the wound prevented Bennett from returning to carpentry, so in 1865 he bought the Kilbourn City photography studio operated by Leroy Gates and began a career as a photographer. Shortly afterward, in 1866, he married Francis Douty, and the couple eventually had three children. Later, after Francis died (in 1884), he remarried Evaline Marshall in 1890.
Because there was little demand for portraits in the area, Bennett set his sights on landscape photography. He built himself a portable darkroom
Darkroom
A darkroom is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light sensitive photographic materials, including photographic film and photographic paper. Darkrooms have been created and used since the inception of photography in the early 19th century...
, and then towed it, his camera, and other necessary equipment with him across the local countryside taking pictures. He didn't have to go far to find impressive scenery, for the Wisconsin River Dells, a gorge with numerous sandstone formations, was just outside Kilbourn City. Bennett loaded a boat with his photographic equipment and took many pictures of the Dells. Realizing that the three dimensional aspect of the rock formations would be lost in two-dimensional photographs, he began creating stereoscopic
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
images that allowed viewers to see the Dells in three dimensions. Bennett made his first stereoscopic photo in 1868, and they soon became very popular, being sold in cities across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Innovations in photography
H. H. Bennett Studio
The H. H. Bennett Studio is a historic photographic studio located in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. The studio building was built in 1875 by noted landscape photographer H. H. Bennett, and was operated by his family until 1999. In that year, the studio was donated to the Wisconsin Historical Society...
in 1875 and using it to sell postcards and souvenir portraits to travelers. In the meantime, he continued to innovate in the field of photography by inventing a stop action shutter which allowed him to take photographs of instantaneous events. Previously, it took several minutes for a camera to take a picture, and any movement of the subject being photographed over this time caused the picture to become blurry.
After Bennett created the new shutter, he was able to take clear pictures of moving subjects. The best known photograph taken by Bennett with this device was an 1886 image of his son Ashley jumping between two rock formations in the Dells. Boston audiences of 1890 gasped when this photograph was projected as a magic lantern
Magic lantern
The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...
slide. Bennett also introduced narrative concepts, as noted by his great-granddaughter, Betsy Reese Grant, in The Bennett Story:
- From 1832 until 1890, every spring saw raftsmen riding their lumber to market down the Wisconsin River. Bennett had always been interested in taking a series of pictures of their activities. In 1886 dry plates had finally become reliable enough that he did not need his portable darkroom. Henry and his son Ashley made a 100-mile, week-long trip on a lumber raft. Between Kilbourn and Boscobel, Wisconsin, he took 30 pictures of the raftsmen's different activities. He then combined these with other pictures taken near Kilbourn and called the series, The Story of Raftsmen's Life on the Wisconsin. This was the first time a photographer wrote a "story" with pictures. Photo journalismPhotojournalismPhotojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
was born.
Bennett also innovated in the way he printed pictures, building a revolving solar printing house that is now housed at the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
. In addition, because early cameras were unable to accurately capture details of the sky or reflections in water after being adjusted for the light of a typical land photograph, Bennett wove together negatives from multiple photographs of land, sky and water before creating a final print. Bennett received much attention for his advanced techniques, and was commissioned by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad to photograph the landscape along the company's track in Wisconsin. Bennett also took pictures outside the state, photographing an ice palace
Ice palace
An ice palace or ice castle is a castle-like structure made of blocks of ice. These blocks are usually harvested from nearby rivers or lakes when they become frozen in winter. The first known ice palace appeared in St...
in St. Paul, Minnesota and the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
in Chicago, Illinois. Finally, Bennett photographed the huge circular paintings known as cycloramas, publishing sets of stereoviews on the Civil War cycloramas of the Battles of Shiloh, Gettysburg and Missionary Ridge, the engagement between the Monitor and the Virginia, as well as the Crucifixion.
As portable film cameras became widespread in the 1890s, Bennett's career declined somewhat because tourists coming to see the Dells were able to take their own souvenir photos and no longer needed Bennett's postcards or portraits. Nevertheless, Bennett pressed on in his profession, selling gift shop type items from his studio to attract more customers and continuing as a professional landscape photographer until his death in 1908. Following his death, Bennett's family took over the photography studio, remodeling it in 1917. His descendants continued to operate the studio until 1999, when the building was restored to its 1908 appearance and became a historic site operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society is simultaneously a private membership and a state-funded organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America, with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans-Allegheny West...
.
See also
- Rath, Sara. Pioneer Photographer: Wisconsin's H.H. Bennett. Tamarack Press, 1979.
- Hoelscher, Steven D. Picturing Indians: Photographic Encounters and Tourist Fantasies in H. H. Bennett's Wisconsin Dells. University of Wisconsin Press, 2008. http://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/3071.htm
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External links
- "H. H. Bennett – Photographer Extraordinaire" Wisconsin Historical SocietyWisconsin Historical SocietyThe Wisconsin Historical Society is simultaneously a private membership and a state-funded organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America, with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans-Allegheny West...
digital collection of photographs taken by H. H. Bennett. - Temmer, Jim. "A Compelling Vision: H. H. Bennett and the Wisconsin Dells", Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 85, no. 4, (2002) pp. 12–19.
- H.H. Bennett Studio & History Center
- Items relating to the photographic publishing of H.H. Bennett, Kilbourn City, Wisconsin. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts