Her father was John Baker, a miner, and her mother was Margaret, née Smith; she was the eldest of their eleven children.

When she moved in 1886 to Ballarat to live with her grandparents, her grandfather Henry Evans Baker, who worked as the first superintendent at the Ballarat Observatory, infused in her deep interest in scientific instruments, creative thinking, and evolution.

[3] In 1898, she developed her interest in photography in Perth and then at Ballarat in 1899; she started taking photographs with a quarter-plate camera which was given to her by her aunt Pheme (Henry Baker's sister).

In 1900, she moved to Black Rock, Melbourne, and lived with her great aunt Euphemia, who was a headmistress and whose success influenced her.

[1][3] In 1923, Baker traveled to Tasmania, Western Australia, and New Zealand along with Martha Root, a Baháʼí teacher and Esperantist.

When she wanted to visit the Baháʼí holy shrines at Haifa, Palestine she suffered from lead poisoning due to licking her paintbrushes.

[1] In 1930, at the request of Effendi, Baker toured incognito, mostly dressed in black chador, to take pictures of the origins of the Babí and Baháʼí religions.

She had developed the films under moonlight and ensured that each picture was good before leaving that location.