Darius Kinsey photographs, 1890-1939

Darius Kinsey was a pioneer artist active as a photographer in the Northwest from the late 19th century to 1940. He was born in Missouri in 1869. Arriving in Snoqualmie, Washington at the age of 20, he went into the hotel and mercantile business, but soon after became intrigued with the art of photography. After learning the photography trade, he was hired by the Seattle and Lake Shore Railroad Co. and spent the next five years taking views along its line. At the same time, he started his pictorial documentation of life in the logging camps, photographing every aspect of logging in the Pacific Northwest. In 1896 he married Tabitha May Pritts and a year later started a studio in Sedro-Wooley. He depended on portraiture to earn a living, but also continued to photograph scenic views. Tabitha served as her husband's assistant, working in a darkroom at home, processing negatives received from the field and sending the finished photographic prints back to the logging sites.

According to the History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties Illustrated: "Darius Kinsey, the popular photographer of Sedro-Wooley, learned the art before the Skagit county communities had developed sufficiently to warrant the establishment of a gallery, but as soon as the population increased enough to make it profitable, he entered the business which he and Mrs. Kinsey have successfully conducted ever since... Mrs. Kinsey is also a photographer and takes charge of the office. Mr. Kinsey's camera is said to be the largest in the state of Washington and he is especially skillful in scenic work. He is in great demand for outside photography, while at the same time he and Mrs. Kinsey have the reputation of conducting one of the best galleries north of Seattle."

At the end of 1906, he decided to move his studio to Seattle to focus exclusively on logging documentation. In 1940, he broke several ribs in a fall from a stump which ended his photographic career. He died five years later in 1945.