 As a boy, Eliot Furness Porter (1901–1990)
explored nature, discovered cameras, and became fascinated with chemistry.
Later in his life, Porter combined his knowledge of these subjects and
became famous for his color photographs of nature.
Porter grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, a wooded village on Lake Michigan,
north of Chicago. Eliot's mother, Ruth, read tirelessly to her five
children. 
His father, James, introduced Eliot to nature in the Illinois landscape
and later on a coastal island in Maine. Both parents taught their children
to respect both people and the environment.
In 1910, when Porter was nine, his father purchased Great Spruce Head
Island in Penobscot Bay, Maine, which became the family's summer home.
During the summers, Eliot and his older sister and younger brothers
spent their days in and around the sea, swimming at high tide and exploring
the shore during low tide. |
