Charles Leander Weed
The first photograph ever taken of Yosemite was taken by Charles Leander Weed, who had traveled with James Hutchings to photograph the first two story hotel to open in Yosemite. Weed made history on June 18th, 1859 at 11:25 in the morning, taking the image above of the very famous and well photographed Yosemite Falls (Hood).
Weed himself was born in 1824 in Wisconsin, but made his career in Yosemite and California. He had his own gallery in 1858, and worked for George Watson at 66 J. Street in Sacramento as a camera operator. Documentation of his life began mostly in 1859 when he was tasked by Robert Vance to accompany Hutchings on his expedition.
In his first expedition to Yosemite, Weed experienced the difficulties of photography at the time first hand. Early photography was often hampered by the transportation of forty pound cameras, glass plates weighing a pound each, harsh conditions for developing, and primitive wet plate technology. Regardless, Weed brought the very first images of Yosemite back to Robert Vance, where they were then sold and were the first to reach the national and international market (Palmquist). They were sold by Vance to Edward Anthony & Company in New York, although Weed himself did not become very popular.
Unfortunately, Weed himself was largely overshadowed by his subject matter. Many people forgot the photographer himself as they paid much more attention to his images. According to Palmquist, Weed was never even referred to by name during his expedition, and is only mentioned as "the photographer" by Vance. Weed worked for Vance from 1853 until 1858 until they became partners. Vance was the leading daguerreotype of the time.
Between the years of 1859 and 1864, Weed faded into obscurity even as his photographs encouraged more people to take up residence in California. This was because he wasn't one to publicize his own work, and very rarely advertized himself, even if he did buy Vance's gallery in 1861.
The main issue Weed had was that he didn't copyright many of his images, so many other photographers gained undue credit for his work. The photos included are from Weed's second trip into Yosemite in 1864, depiciting more of the rocks and lakes than his previous images. Even though they were featured in the Paris Expedition in 1867, still Weed received no credit for his work. They were actually attributed to his rival, Carleton Watkins (Kurutz).
Weed himself gained a career thanks to his photography work in Yosemite, moving on to Hawaii and Hong Kong. He even worked with Eadweard Muybridge in the 1870s, although Weed himself died in obscurity on August 31st, 1903 in Oakland. The last time his photographs obtained popular acclaim was in 1872.