Frances Benjamin Johnston

Frances Fannie Benjamin Johnston was one of the earliest American female photographers and photojournalists.

The only surviving child of wealthy and well connected parents, she was born in Grafton, West Virginia, raised in Washington, D.C., and studied at the Acadmie Julian in Paris and the Washington Students League following her graduation from Notre Dame of Maryland Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies in 1883 . An independent and strongwilled young woman, she wrote articles for periodicals before finding her creative outlet through photography after she was given her first camera by George Eastman, a close friend of the family, and inventor of the new, lighter, Eastman Kodak cameras. She received training in photography and darkroom techniques from Thomas Smillie, director of photography at the Smithsonian.

Source: Wikipedia