“Yosemite Park… None can escape its charms. Its natural beauty cleans and warms like a fire, and you will be willing to stay forever in one place like a tree.”
~ John Muir
(1838-1914)
Isaiah West Taber’s career was drawn westward by the Gold Rush in 1850, he never struck gold in the earth but discovered instead in the luminous spirit of photography. After years of honing his craft at a studio, Taber opened his own business in 1871, which quickly became one of the city’s most esteemed photographic studios.
Taber wast not only behind the camera but was also printing and sharing the work of others, acquiring Carleton Watkins’s negatives, and even selling supplies to fellow photographers. His studio must have felt like a hub of energy and innovation, filled with the excitement of new technology and the beauty of captured landscapes.
The 1906 earthquake and fire reduced his life’s work to ashes. Still, Taber’s story reflects the daring ambition of his time: a man who came seeking fortune in gold but built a legacy in images that once defined the vision of a growing city and its place in the wider world.