Moffat, John
1819 – 1894
Born in Aberdeen, Moffat was aged 7 when his family removed to Edinburgh in 1826. He began business in 1847 as an engraver of portraits and a crayon and chalk portraitist. He became interested in photography as an amateur in 1850 and and turned to it professionally in 1853, opening his first studio at 60 Princes Street in Edinburgh that year. After two more moves he opened his studio at 103 Princes Street in 1861 and stayed there until 1875 when he switched full time to larger premises at 125 Princes Street. His business remained in Princes Street for over a hundred years. By 1887, it was employing 20 photographic assistants. Moffat was a wet plate collodion worker who went on to take an early interest in new developments. He took stereo photographs and was one of the early bromoil workers. Moffat was an astute businessman, an amateur landscape artist in watercolours, sketches and oils and an accomplished violinist. At the 1890 EPS Exhibition he exhibited a stereoscope with a Daguerreotype of the Queen in the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition.
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