Georges Tairraz I

Biography

Between 1857 and 2000, four photographers will, from father to son, invent and pass on the art of mountain photography. They are called Tairraz. Joseph Tairraz, Georges Tairraz I, Georges Tairraz II, and Pierre Tairraz. The story begins in Chamonix in 1857.

Joseph Tairraz, son of the syndic (mayor), buys a daguerreotype device in Geneva. Four years later, before Auguste-Rosalie Bisson, the Emperor's official photographer, he took the first photograph at the top of Mont-Blanc. Very quickly, the young man opened a studio in the center of Chamonix. He will pass the baton to his son Georges. The dynasty is launched. The Tairraz trace from father to son the history and transformations of Chamoni...