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In 1882 Juan José de Jesús Yas (Japan 1844–1917)
opened his studio “Fotografía Japonesa,” and then vis-
ited Mexico and Peru, returning to Guatemala in 1890.
This photographer acted as an interpreter of the Mexican
Commision that travelled in 1874, to Japan, in order to
observe and take photographs of the transit of Venus in
front of the Sun. This visit preceeded a second visit to
Mexico, probably during the next transit of Venus, in
1882 and afterwards, he settled in Guatemala.
In 1880 the photographer Emilio Eichenberger was
active in 129th Oriente Street. Legrand & Co. was an-
other renown studio at the end of the century.
Haití
The photographer Joseph Henri Besse (Haití 1810–
1871), who was sent young to study in Paris, returned
mastering the art of photography.
Edmond Laforestiére (1837–1894) also traveled from
Haití to Paris, where he became a photographer. Once
back to his country, he became an active professional.
Barón Colbert de Lochard, from St. Marc, made pho-
tographic portraits in the 50s, and J. Wheeler actively
produced stereoviews during the 60s, as well as W.
Watson in the 70s.
Honduras
Typical itinerant photographers, were Alva Pearsall,
active in 1865, J.W. Newland and the German citizen
Federico Lessman. All of these photographers were
headquartered in Venezuela. In 1883, Alfred P. Maud-
slay left traces of his work documenting the ruins of
Copán.
By the turn of the century, Juan T. Aguirre worked
in Tegucigalpa taking views for commercial purposes,
and later devoted himself to photomechanical repro-
ductions.
Jamaica
Installed in Kensington near 1878, Ernesto Bavastro
made portraits of important Cuban patriots, like the hero
Máximo Gómez and some other well known people like
Rafael Rodríguez, Enrique Collazo, and Enrique Canals,
who moved to Jamaica after the Ten Years War. Bavas-
tro’s studio was located in 67 King Street, Kingston.
Great quantities of stereoviews were made by several
studios, like A. Duperly & Sons, George W. Davis y P.
Sarthou, particularly between 1860 and 1870.
Martinique
François Gouraud (1812–1848), from Martinique,
studied with Jacques Mandé Daguerre and became a
representative of Alphonse Giroux in the island. Senior
Hartman was active also in the early daguerrian years,
and travelled along the Antilles.Panamá
Thimothy O ́Sullivan, the American photographer
(?–1882), participated in the expedition to Darién in
1870, and intended to study a proper location for dig-
ging a channel through the istm. He was hired out as
an offi cial photographer of the expedition on January
11, 1870, and returned fi ve months after. O ́Sullivan
did not take enough photographs of the area, due to
the adverse climate and the cumbersome operation in
the jungle, but nevertheless succeded in documenting
the expedition and getting anthropological records of
the indians and their huts, as well as in taking views of
San Lorenzo y Cartagena. He gathered more than 200
stereos and over 100 glass negatives about the region.
In 1871, John Moran followed his steps, getting a larger
quantity of stereoviews. When the French engineer
Ferdinand de Lesseps was appointed as director of the
channel works, professional photographers were sent to
document the whole operation, including the landscapes
and natives.Puerto Rico
The French photographer H. Gautier was active in San
Juan in the 1870s. He was devoted intensively to the
carte-de-visite format. His publicity consisted of a curi-
ous round label with nice engravings. By the 1890s, in
the location of Ponce, worked a photographer named
M.C. Gray.
By the end of the 19th century, the vernacular pho-
tographer Eduardo López Cepero documented the city
of San Juan and its fortresses. The most outstanding
photographer during that period however was Feliciano
Alonso (?–1901). In 1882 he received a prize in an ex-
hibition that took place in Ponce and in 1893 he was in
charge of recording the buildings and activities of the
Great Exhibition at San Juan de Puerto Rico. He made
two albums of views, which were the Álbum de Puerto
Rico and Álbum de vistas fotográfi cas de Puerto Rico.
He started producing stereoviews when the American
occupation occured in 1898.República Dominicana
The painter Epifanio Billini (1823–1892) was considered
the fi rst photographer in the island. Although another
outstanding photographer was David Benjamín Benzo
(1840–1896), who moved later to Caracas (Venezuela).
At the end of the 19th century Abelardo Rodríguez
Urdaneta (1870–1933) was active as well.