As a rookie news photographer , Harris covered the Johnstown flood of 1889 in Pennsylvania . He worked at Hearst News Service in San Francisco from 1900 to 1903 , then joined President Theodore Roosevelt 's press entourage on a train trip . Roosevelt , or a San Francisco newspaper editor , angry at having no photograph of George Frisbie Hoar to run with the story of his death , urged him to open a studio in Washington to photograph notable people there . He took Ewing , an artist and colorist with whom he had worked ; she financed the company and managed the studio . Harris and Ewing opened their studio in 1905 at 1313 F Street NW . They replaced the building with the current building in 1924
Johnstown flood of 1889
Johnstown Flood
Harris & Ewing photo studio