Three-quarter view albumen CDV studio portrait. Willimantic, Connecticut: Henry E. Robbins, ca late 1860s–early 1870s. Photographer's imprint to mount verso. Verso also bears the collector stamp of pioneering photo-historian Morris Gerber (Albany, New York).

The striking three-quarter length studio occupational captures photographer Henry E. Robbins dressed in a matching plaid wool vest and trousers, leaning his folded arms casually atop his studio portrait box camera. The wooden camera is fitted with a large brass barrel lens with cap and is mounted on a heavy cast-iron crank and screw-adjustable studio pedestal stand.

Occupational portraits of early American photographers interacting with their cameras are rare and desirable, offering exceptional visual documentation of 19th-century studio apparatus and photographic trade practice.

[Occupational Photography, Photographer with Camera, Studio Camera, Brass Lens, Camera Stand, Willimantic Connecticut, Windham County CT, Henry E Robbins, HE Robbins, Ashford Connecticut, CDV, Carte de Visite, 19th Century Photography, Early Photographic Equipment, Morris Gerber Collection]

Very good condition. The print remains crisp, with strong tones. The mount is untrimmed. The verso exhibits some previous collectors' markings.