James Wallace Black

James Wallace Black ( born February 10, 1825 in Francestown New Hampshire; † January 5, 1896 in Cambridge, Massachusetts), also known as JW Black was a former American professional photographer whose career was distinguished by innovation and experimentation with the new technique. He lived and worked in Boston.

After trying his luck as a painter, he turned to photography, first as a disk polisher for the daguerreotype. Soon he teamed up with John Adams Whipple, a productive Boston photographer and inventor.

Blacks large studio in Boston held the copyright to a famous recording of the abolitionist John Brown. This was created in May 1859 almost half a year before his failed attempt to incite a slave revolt at Harpers Ferry. (The picture is generally attributed to Black, but it is possible that he acquired the negative along with the discontinued Studio of another photographer. )

On October 13, 1860 Black made ​​with the aeronaut Samuel A. King, the first successful aerial view in America. This is also the oldest Aerial view of a city, and the oldest surviving aerial view at all, since the only two years before were also lost from the balloon recordings made by the French photographer Nadar. Black photographed Boston from from 350 m altitude balloon Kings of Queen of the Air. One of the 8 shots succeeded. The photographer gave her the caption " Boston, as it is seen the eagle and the wild goose ." The aerial photography was then used very quickly by the Union Army in the Civil War for aerial reconnaissance.

Black later became experts in the magic lantern, one working by candlelight precursor of today's slide projector. In the late 1870s, Black produced mainly magic lantern slides, including famous paintings from the great fire in Boston in 1872.