Hermann Krone

Born to a lithographer father and a book printer grandfather, Hermann Krone (German, 1827–1916) began experimenting with photography already in his first semester at the University of Breslau where he studied natural sciences. As early as 1843 he produced his first calotypes and daguerreotypes. Opening his own photo-studio in Leipzig in 1851, he soon had to leave the city because he was considered a foreigner due to his being born in Prussia. Settling in Dresden, he opened another studio and workshop where he also taught, and successfully acquired Saxon citizenship. His 1853 landscape photographs of the Elbsandsteingebirge (Saxon Switzerland) are the earliest photographic documents of this region. Krone also worked with collodion dry plates and in 1869 he established a publishing house. Next to his pioneering role in photography, he also published research as a scientist in speleology (the study of caves). In 1895, Krone was appointed professor for photography and gathered a vast collection of photographic prints of various processes that is now part of the Institute for Applied Photo-Physics in Dresden (IAPP).