C. B. Waite

[10][11] In the 1890s, Waite's photographs of Southern California ranches and landscapes appeared in the magazine Land of Sunshine, and he was contracted by railroad companies to provide views of Arizona and New Mexico.

He was among a group of expatriate photographers (such as Winfield Scott and fellow San Diegans Ralph Carmichael and Percy S. Cox) working in Mexico in the first decade of the 20th century.

[1] [Waite’s life] corresponds with that of adventurers, brave explorers with romantic spirits and materialistic outlooks, who toured the hitherto unknown world, discovering their riches and inventing paradises.His works were published in books, travel magazines, and on post cards, having contracted with the Sonora News Company.

Perhaps anticipating the development of a railroad line from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, linking Salina Cruz and Coatzacoalcos (Puerto México), he purchased about 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres) of land in Veracruz.

[27] Critical assessment of Waite's work focuses on his representation of poverty in Mexican society in relation to the industrialization and modernization projects of the Porfirio Díaz government.