William McFarlane Notman was born in Scotland but emigrated to Canada in 1856, opening a photographic studio in Montreal, quickly establishing branches of Wm Notman & Son throughout Canada and the United States; Notman held patents for some techniques he developed to recreate winter within the studio; won medals at exhibitions in Montreal, London, Paris, and Australia; was a regular contributor to the photographic journal ‘Philadelphia Photographer’, and together with its editor, Edward Wilson, formed the Centennial Photographic Company for the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia; Notman was the official Canadian photographer to Queen Victoria; photographs include portraits, landscapes and elaborate studio-based genre scenes of Native Americans, hunters and trappers.