Darius Kinsey

Darius Kinsey was the most important and prolific photographer of logging activities in the Pacific Northwest.

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. 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 1897 he started a studio in Sedro-Woolley. He depended on portraiture to earn a living, but also continued to photograph scenic views. 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.Often using an 11x14 Eastman View camera, he was known for photographing the entire logging process.