James Wallace Black (1825 - 1896) was born in Francestown, New Hampshire, and faced adversity early in life, becoming orphaned as a teenager. He worked various jobs before becoming an apprentice to daguerreotypist John A. Lerow in Boston in the 1840s. After gaining experience in the photography world, Black worked as a machine operator and plate polisher, before becoming an apprentice to John Adams Whipple in 1850. In 1856, he became a partner in Whipple's photographic business, Whipple & Black, where he honed his skills in portrait photography and landscape photography, particularly using the crystalotype process. Black also gained recognition for his landscape photographs of New Hampshire, which stood out for their texture and representation of the rugged terrain. He also dabbled in astronomical photography at the Harvard Observatory.

In 1859, Black ended his partnership with Whipple and married Frances Georgianna Sharp. He later teamed up with Perez M. Batchelder to purchase J.B. Heywood's studio in 1860, where he produced stereo views, cartes-de-visite, and notable portraits, including an iconic photo of Walt Whitman. During this period, Black experimented with aerial photography, making significant strides in 1860 with successful photos of Boston from a balloon, which later influenced Union Army use of aerial imagery in the Civil War. In the 1870s, Black captured images of the Great Boston Fire, and in his later years, he focused on lantern slides while remaining active in the photographic community. Black passed away in 1896, and his photographic legacy lives on through collections at institutions like the Boston Public Library and the George Eastman House.