author

John A. Tennant

1868–1957

A pioneer photography editor and practical guide writer, this early 20th-century author helped make camera work more approachable for amateurs. He is best remembered for shaping The Photo-Miniature and for clear, hands-on books about photographic technique.

2 Audiobooks

Bromide Printing and Enlarging A Practical Guide to the Making of Bromide Prints by Contact and Bromide Enlarging by Daylight and Artificial Light, With the Toning of Bromide Prints and Enlargements

Bromide Printing and Enlarging A Practical Guide to the Making of Bromide Prints by Contact and Bromide Enlarging by Daylight and Artificial Light, With the Toning of Bromide Prints and Enlargements

by John A. Tennant

Photography at home : A handbook to the use of the camera in the home for pleasure and profit; with working methods and reliable formulæ

Photography at home : A handbook to the use of the camera in the home for pleasure and profit; with working methods and reliable formulæ

by John A. Tennant

About the author

Born in 1868 and dying in 1957, John A. Tennant was a writer, editor, and publisher closely associated with the growth of popular photography in the United States. Archival records describe him as the editor and publisher of The Photo-Miniature, a magazine devoted to photographic information that ran for decades and focused each issue on a single topic for readers who wanted practical guidance.

His surviving works show that he wrote in a direct, useful style aimed at everyday photographers rather than specialists. Books such as Photography at Home and Bromide Printing and Enlarging explain indoor photography, portrait work, enlarging, and other techniques in a way that reflects the expanding world of amateur camera use in the early 1900s.

The papers preserved in archival collections also suggest a wider life of interests beyond publishing, including music, travel, and Roman Catholicism. Taken together, his work presents him as a patient teacher of photography—someone interested not just in images themselves, but in helping readers understand how to make them well.