The Fargo area can boast a long and prominent history in photography.

It dates at least to 1881, when David Houston of Hunter, N.D., invented the roll film camera. (He sold his patent to George Eastman, who founded Kodak. Maybe that wasn’t his best decision.)

From the Fargo area have come a Pulitzer-prize winning photograph (by Cal Olson), two National Press Photographers Association presidents (Cal and Colburn Hvidston III), a National Geographic photographer (Thomas Abercrombie, who was at the Forum for about a year) a New York Times photographer (Mike Lien), and others. Pioneer photographer Frank Jay Haynes went from Fargo to become a celebrated photographer of Yellowstone Park and the West. The FM Camera Club has been active since the 1930s. Photo patrons such as Fred Scheel collected some of the great names in photography, and many local photographers have contributed nationally and internationally, both in art photography and photojournalism.

Today area photographers continue to make an impact. Here we celebrate the photojournalists, the artists, the documentary photographers, and the lovers of photography. They may not all be well known outside the photographic community, but they help to maintain this region as one of the country's top sources of photo talent. We gather biographies here as a way to work toward a more organized group of photographers in the region. Participants in our Celebrate Local Photography community can get to know each other a little better and encourage the community to know us a little better too.

--Ross F. Collins, professor of communication, North Dakota State University, Fargo

Celebrate Local Photography list of participants.

North Dakota State Historical Society legacy list of Fargo photographers (pdf file).