George Taylor

George Thomas Taylor (September 6, 1838 – April 5, 1913) was a Canadian photographer and painter whose work depicts the landscapes and everyday life of nineteenth-century New Brunswick. He is regarded as a pioneering nature photographer in Canada. Taylor was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He developed an interest in photography and in 1856, he began his career, during which he documented and photographed provincial locations, including the Tobique Valley. In the early 20th century, when photography was becoming more accessible, Taylor retired and took up landscape painting, which he continued until his death in 1913. Taylor often used his own photographs as references. , hundreds of Taylor's images are preserved and have been exhibited at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Early life and career George Thomas Taylor was born on September 6, 1838, in Fredericton, a British garrison town in the Colony of New Brunswick. His father William P. Taylor had migrated from London, England, and worked as a carpenter. George Taylor's mother was Frances (Morrison) Taylor; George was the middle child of five siblings, and the family lived in a house William built in 1846. George developed an interest in photography through borrowing magazines from soldiers at the local garrison, which led him to pursue a self-study of photography, particularly its scientific concepts.. During his teenage years, Taylor started creating daguerreotypes, and while working as a carpenter in the 1850s and 1860s, he continued to develop his photographic skills. He was also a self-taught painter, although the wife of a captain of the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment gave him lessons.