Esmond G. Barnhill (1894-1959) specialized in hand-painted photography in Florida. Born March 4, 1894 in Saludi, South Carolina, Barnhill established his first photography business in St. Petersburg FL during 1913 at the age of 19. Specializing in postcards and greeting cards, his photography business remained relatively small and he basically photographed, published, hand-coloured, and distributed most of his work himself. The first postcards of him were printed in Germany, but in later years most postcards of him were printed by the Alberttype Co. of New York.
Barnhill expanded into selling hand-painted landscape photography taken in and around St. Petersburg eventually moving more into the Florida countryside. All of the Barnhill views we’ve seen are Florida landscapes, some are as small as 2×3″, others are 11×14″. Some of Barnhill’s photographs are mounted on a signed/titled mount board, much like the other major photographers. However, most of the Barnhill pictures we have seen were unframed or framed in newer frames. We assume that a lot of Barnhill’s unsold original inventory has turned up recently and is slowly being released to the current market. The price of Barnhill photography is usually higher in Florida than anywhere else in the country.
Apparently, Barnhill had always been interested in the culture of the American Indians. At some point he met Edward S. Curtis, the famous photographer of the American West as a teenager. While working with Curtis, Barnhill learned the delicate “gold tone” photographic process using uranium dyes and he experimented with this process from 1914 to the mid-1920s. It is quite evident in the color schemes used in a large number of his images.
During World War II, Barnhill established an Indian Trading Post in the Wisconsin Dells, which operated in the summer months until 1959. Several years later, he opened “The Indian Springs Museum“.
Esmund G. Barnhill died in 1987 at the age of 93.
recommended reading: You might want to try locating a book on the secondary market titled “The Golden Age of Florida Memories: 1890-1930″by Larry Roberts. This book includes a chapter on hand-colored photographs of Barnhill and Harris Florida.