Emery and Ellsworth Kolb

In 1902, the Kolb brothers bought a photographic studio in Williams, Arizona, and had its contents moved to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, 50 miles away. They opened for business in a canvas tent near one of the tourist hotels, and later built a wooden structure at the head of the Bright Angel Trail. They supported themselves by taking photographs of tourists about to descend the trail on mules, then offering the developed photos for sale when the visitors returned from the river a mile below. They were also known for daring treks into the canyon to capture images from seemingly impossible vantage points.

In 1911, the Kolbs retraced John Wesley Powell's historic descent of the Colorado River, bringing along a moving-picture camera to record footage they later showed in a specially-built theater in their South Rim studio. The brothers were active in virtually anything that went on in the canyon – from government surveys to the search for Glen and Bessie Hyde in 1928.

Ellsworth went his own way in 1924, but Emery stayed on at the South Rim, photographing tourists and giving his lecture at the studio until his death at age 95.