Career
He opened his own studio in New York City in 1860 and was a brother of the painter Albert Bierstadt, whose artwork he made into engravings. He produced stereoscopic images for Bierstadt Brothers. Bierstadt was hired by William West Durant to take a series of photos for an advertising brochure entitled The Adirondacks, Artotype Views Among the Mountains and Lakes of the North Woods to publicize Blue Mountain Lake and Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks.
Bierstadt held an 1876 patent for an improvement to the stereoscope.