Laura Gilpin began taking photographs as a child in Colorado and formally studied photography in New York from 1916 to 1917 before returning to her home in Colorado to begin her career as a professional photographer.
34 Facts About Laura Gilpin
2.
Laura Gilpin was the daughter of Frank Laura Gilpin and Emma Miller.
3.
When Laura Gilpin was born, her parents had to travel to a home in Austin Bluffs, some 65 miles from their ranch at Horse Creek because this was the location that was closest to a doctor.
4.
Laura Gilpin enjoyed exploring the outdoors as a child, and her father encouraged her to go camping and hiking in the Colorado landscape.
5.
Laura Gilpin's father took several jobs during her childhood, and in 1902 he moved to Durango, Mexico to manage a mine.
6.
In 1903, for her twelfth birthday, Laura Gilpin received a Kodak Brownie Camera.
7.
Laura Gilpin considered the year 1904 to be a very important point in her life.
8.
Later when she decided to become a photographer, Laura Gilpin asked Kasebier to be her mentor.
9.
When family finances declined, Laura Gilpin left school and returned to Colorado.
10.
Laura Gilpin enjoyed exploring the outdoors, and she would often visit General William Jackson Palmer, who took her horseback riding and walking around the surrounding areas of their home.
11.
Laura Gilpin was able to use the proceeds from raising turkeys to fund trips to the East Coast to further her skills in photography.
12.
Laura Gilpin photographed everything from her chickens and turkeys to her brother and the landscape.
13.
Laura Gilpin eventually sold the turkey operation and continued to push her photography career forward.
14.
Laura Gilpin's mother hired a nurse, Elizabeth Warham Forster "Betsy", to care for her.
15.
Laura Gilpin frequently photographed Forster during the more than fifty years they were together, sometimes placing her in scenes with other people as though she were part of a tableau she happened to come upon.
16.
In 1924, Laura Gilpin's mother died and she was left to care for her father who continued to move from job to job.
17.
Laura Gilpin left there in 1944, shortly after her father's death, and returned to her beloved Colorado.
18.
Laura Gilpin continued working and photography throughout the Southwest until her death in 1979.
19.
Laura Gilpin made her earliest dated autochrome in 1908 when she was 17 years old.
20.
At these expositions, Laura Gilpin developed an interest in sculpture, architecture, and native cultures.
21.
Laura Gilpin won a monthly competition that was sponsored by American Photography magazine in May 1916.
22.
Laura Gilpin studied sculpture with Putnam, and would often photograph her works.
23.
When Laura Gilpin decided she wanted to seriously study photography, her mentor Gertrude Kasebier advised her to attend the Clarence White School in New York City.
24.
Laura Gilpin enrolled in a 28-week course in October 1916, and greatly expanded her photographic knowledge and skill.
25.
Laura Gilpin deeply admired White, whom she later called "one of the greatest teachers I have ever known in any field".
26.
At the Clarence White School, Laura Gilpin learned about photographic processes and alternative printing methods, including platinum printing, a process she would work with throughout her career.
27.
Laura Gilpin spent the summer following her first school year at Clarence White School in Colorado Springs and then moved back to New York in the Fall of 1917.
28.
Laura Gilpin came under the care of Elizabeth Forster, a nurse, who became her lifelong friend and companion.
29.
Laura Gilpin joined a circle of artists in Colorado Springs that were associated with the Broadmoor Art Academy in 1919.
30.
In 1922, Laura Gilpin made a trip to Europe that later impacted her work.
31.
Laura Gilpin's work was enhanced by visits to the Navajo reservation in Red Rock Arizona where Elizabeth Forster had taken a job as a public health nurse.
32.
Laura Gilpin is considered to be one of the great platinum printing photographers, and many of her platinum prints are now in museums around the world.
33.
Laura Gilpin's work is archived at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.
34.
Laura Gilpin continued to be very active as a photographer and as a participant in the Santa Fe arts scene until her death in 1979.