Item - PE000155 - Mt. Sheol, Lake Louise

Photographer and businessman Byron Hill Harmon was born in Tacoma, Washington on February 9, 1876. He was the son of Hill and Clara Smith Harmon. Byron’s father left the family shortly after he was born, leading him and his two siblings to be raised by his mother. His mother worked as a matron on one of the Puget Sound Reservations.

While still a young child Harmon suffered from typhoid twice and asthma. This is one of the reasons he later settled in the Rockies, as the clear air provided some relief from his asthma. During his teens he began to develop his skills in creating and building with his hands, as well as photography. Harmon, unable to afford a camera, created one from a wooden box with a lens-less pinhole.

In the mid 1890’s Harmon opened a portrait studio in Tacoma, Washington. It was here he began his career as a photographer. At the end of the decade, he closed his photography studio and decided to travel. He spent two to three years travelling in the American Southwest, the eastern seaboard and back west to Canada while taking photographs. This led him to Banff, Alberta, where he would settle.

During his first few months in Banff, Harmon continued to photograph portraits before turning to photograph the town’s mountain setting. He began to photograph the mountains to sell prints to tourists. In 1907 Harmon had created the largest collection of Canadian Rockies postcards, with over a 100 images. This earned him enough money to move into a building in Banff.

He took up hiking, riding, and climbing while in Banff and took his photography equipment with him. Climbing was very popular at the turn of the century and attracted many tourists to the Rocky Mountains. In March 1900 the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) was founded and Harmon became a charter member and their official photographer. Becoming the ACC’s official photographer helped Harmon expand his career and gain recognition. The ACC produced The Canadian Alpine Journal which was distributed across North America and featured many of Harmon’s images. Harmon’s ACC trips led to approximately 6,500 negatives and plates.

While working as the ACC photographer Harmon had the opportunity to meet and work with a wide range of people including scientists, explorers, and surveyors. In 1910, A.O. Wheeler, founder and director and first president of the Alpine Club and one of Canada’s foremost surveyors and cartographers, asked Harmon to attend a three week trip into the Purcell Range. Harmon accompanied Wheeler on the journey and took many photographs including Dr. T.G. Longstaff hunting three grizzly bears. This photograph would go on to be one of Harmon’s best-selling postcards.

In 1911, Harmon went on another three-month trip to the Rainbow Mountains (now part of Jasper National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park), which included four scientists from the Smithsonian Institute. The trip was into a largely un-surveyed region and led to Harmon capturing a large collection of images. Harmon went on several other expeditions over the years; however, found that going with large groups of people would often prevent him from photographing what he wanted. He then began to organize his own trips making it clear to those who took part that it was a photographic expedition.

In 1912 he purchased a theatre which was attached to the building where he had his darkroom. He built a moving-picture theatre and featured films and variety nights. In 1917 the theatre burned down and also destroyed a portion of his work area which housed part of his collection. Over the years the buildings Harmon owned would feature a variety of services including, a studio, theatre, curio shop, drug store, tea shop, bookstore and library, woolen shop, and beauty parlour. With an interest in technology, his shops were the first in Banff to feature gas lights, an ice-cream maker and neon signs. Harmon had one of the first postcard machines in western Canada, which could produce four thousand postcards a day.

Harmon’s photographs began to be featured in national news services. He also gained recognition through his line of postcards, view books, and calendars which were produced in Germany, England and Vancouver. They were later produced by Harmon in his Banff studio. The sales of the materials was focused on the CPR trains from Winnipeg to Vancouver. Harmon made viewbooks and cards entitled 'Along the Line of the CPR'. Harmon also spent time making films throughout his life. A large amount of the footage he filmed was bought by Fox Movietone News.

In 1920 Harmon took part in the International Congress of Alpinism in Monaco as one of four representatives from The Government of Canada with the Alpine Club of Canada, where an exhibit of his work was featured. The exhibit was also featured in the Canadian House of Commons. His films were shown to the Royal Geographical Society in London, England, and to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1923-1924 Harmon went to Europe where he exhibited his prints and films in France, Germany, and Great Britain. While there he received contracts for over fifteen thousand feet of film.

Harmon was a member of many boards and organizations throughout his life. In 1924, Harmon was a founding member of the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies and in 1933 the Sky Line Trail Hikers of the Canadian Rockies. He was also a member of the Banff Board of Trade, a member of the school board, an organizer of the Banff Conservative Association, and a member of the Rotary Club.

Harmon had a son named Don. Harmon passed away on July 10, 1942 at the age of 66.