Born in Switzerland in 1855, Otto Pfenninger moved to England in the 1880s, where he became a pioneer in the emerging field of color photography.

In 1905, he designed and built a unique camera which used three color-separated plates to capture a full-color image in a single exposure.

The following summer, he tested his new contraption on the sunny beaches and parks of Brighton, rendering leisurely and candid scenes in vivid (if somewhat warped) color.