[1] Field was born in Sparta, Michigan, where he began pursuing photography as a hobby as a teenager.
The move to Riverside was encouraged by Field's cousin Gaylor Rouse, who owned Rouse's Department Store in Riverside and introduced Field to Frank Augustus Miller, owner of the Mission Inn.
[1][2] In 1911, Avery and Charlotte Field opened the Photocraft Shop, a commercial photography studio in downtown Riverside's Loring Building.
Field performed photographic work for the University of California Citrus Experiment Station during this time.
[1] In 1931, Frank Augustus Miller provided Field with studio space in the Mission Inn, on the third floor of the hotel's rotunda.