In today's story on a further wrinkle in the ongoing saga of Rick Norsigian's garage sale purchases of a box of glass plate negatives-- see stories here and here -- which he believes to be the work of Ansel, The Bay Citizen examines some other possible photographers.  Earl Brooks, A.C. Pillsbury and to a lesser extent, Harry Pidgeon, all for different reasons, make interesting candidates.

Pillsbury is the best known photographer of the bunch. He worked for decades in Yosemite, operating his own studio until it burned down in 1927 and Ansel Adams took his place. His granddaughter, Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, is writing a book on her grandfather, and has been gathering information related to these "lost" Norsigian negatives online. Earl Brooks — a.k.a. Uncle Earl — first came to the world's attention after his Oakland-based niece, Marian Walton, saw a TV news report on the Norsigian affair and came forward with images she thinks her uncle took which very closely resemble three of the Norsigian images. His great-grandson, Cameron Horne, has also emerged with a treasure trove of Earl memorabilia, including a 670-page memoir and photo albums. In one of the albums, there is another photo match between one ostensibly taken by Brooks and a Norsigian negative.

But no conclusive proof -- negatives, say, or a signed print -- has come out of Brooks' belongings. One question remains: how did Earl come to have prints of the Norsigian images to place his scrapbook and give to relatives? One other possibility is when Brooks' traveled with a known early Yosemite photographer, Harry Pidgeon, in 1920, Pidgeon gave him the picture: another picture by Pidgeon has been found in Brooks' scrapbook. Pidgeon, perhaps better known for his sailing exploits, kept in touch with Brooks for many years after their trip, until Pidgeon's death in 1954.

Here is a sampling of the three mens' work, put alongside the Norsigian negatives.