Background
James Craig Annan was born in 1864 in Hamilton, Scotland, United Kingdom.
James Craig Annan was born in 1864 in Hamilton, Scotland, United Kingdom.
James attended the Academy in Glasgow, Scotland, and studied chemistry and natural philosophy for two sessions in the 1880s at Anderson's College, Glasgow.
Annan worked in his father's Glasgow printing factory and studio, T & R Annan & Sons, ca. 1879-1914. He joined The Linked Ring in 1895 and was the first president of the International Society of Pictorial Photographers in 1904.
Annan was given a Royal Appointment "into the Place and Quality of Photographers & Photogravure Engravers to her Majesty in Glasgow" in 1889 and was made an Honorary Fellow of the RPS in 1924.
The photographer revived interest in David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson's calotypes by producing photogravures from their negatives. He was a pioneer in experimentation with the hand-held camera. A pictorialist, Annan was considered a master of the photogravure process, specializing in portraits and genre scenes. He also did some carbon prints.
He was a member of the Glasgow Art Club (1892), the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, the National Art Collections Fund and the Scottish Modern Arts Association, all 1888.