Based in Kimberley, it was while working in the mine compounds that he initially encountered African migrant workers, stimulating an interest in ethnographic subjects.
His daily interaction with the men who worked in the mines was undoubtedly influential when he later developed an interest in photographic portraiture and documentation.
He honed his photographic skill taking still-life pictures of flowers, and animal studies including images of poultry and horses.
[1] Duggan-Cronin embarked on the first of his major ethnographic endeavours in 1919 when he went to the Langeberg to photograph the San people living there – the first of many expeditions into Kimberley's Southern African hinterland.
[2][3] At his Gallery, Duggan-Cronin hosted many eminent visitors including Olive Schreiner, the Free State President Reitz, Alfred Lord Milner, General Jan Smuts, Abbé Breuil, Noël Coward and the British Royal Family.