John P. Soule (October 16, 1828 - November 27, 1904) was born on in Phillips, Maine. He was first listed in the Boston city directory as a "photographist" in 1859. John's younger brother William Stinson Soule (1836-1908) was also a photographer and reported his occupation on his 1861 enlistment in the 13th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. In 1866, John Soule's listing in the Boston city directory changed to "photograph publisher," though he continued making photographs as well, including stereographs of the Boston Fire of 1872. John Soule published some of Will's images sent from his posts as a clerk at Fort Dodge, Kansas, and later as official photographer at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Will returned east in 1875, eventually joining John's business in Boston. In 1882, John sold his part of the Soule Photography Company to Will and left Boston. In 1883, he travelled throughout the West photographing in Colorado and Utah along the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and in Salt Lake City.

In 1888 John Soule moved to Seattle, and the 1889 Polk's Seattle city directory lists his trade as photographer. Soule took photographs of the ruins of the Seattle Fire of 1889 and the rebuilding thereafter, and published and sold them. He continued to live in Seattle and continued to photograph the growing city until his sudden death on November 27, 1904.