author
Walter E. Woodbury
A practical voice from photography’s early days, remembered for making a fast-changing craft easier to understand. His books and annuals helped photographers learn both the science and the fun of the medium.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Walter E. Woodbury was a photography writer and editor best known for The Encyclopædic Dictionary of Photography and Photographic Amusements. Contemporary and library records also identify him as an editor of The Photographic Times and of The American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac.
His work sat at the meeting point of technical reference and popular instruction. On one hand, he compiled a large reference guide for photographers; on the other, he wrote accessible material on creative tricks, experiments, and darkroom effects that appealed to amateurs as well as serious practitioners.
Although readily traceable through his publications, biographical details about his life are scarce in the sources I could confirm. What does come through clearly is his role as a communicator who helped explain photography at a time when the medium was rapidly evolving.