LAUSR

This article examines photographer H. H. Bennett's contributions within the context of the history of photography. Bennett is a fascinating historical character because he used his own inventions to explore different areas of the discipline under the umbrella of commercial photography, and he contributed to what would become media photography with his stop-action techniques. Recognizing Bennett's work enriches the practice and social histories of photography, in which he is often dismissed as only a landscape photographer who ran a commercial enterprise. Before the arrival of Life and National Geographic, stereographs like Bennett's showed middle-class Americans the world, encouraged tourism, and served as early reportage efforts. Most of these were landscape images to encourage tourism, but some were early efforts in reportage.