Denmark Studio was formed in 1917, and then reestablished as "Denmark Photo & Video, LLC" in 2001.

Now in 2011, we have revived the old photo collection, and have now posted over 8000 images on our web site.

When Denmark Studio first started the business in 1917, they were one of the first premier photo studios in Raleigh. Located in the old Hudson Belk builidng in downtown Raleigh, people came from surrounding towns and counties to be photographed by Jim Denmark at his studio.

For thirty nine years he and his sister Leonita worked at the studio, with Jim shooting the B&W portraits, and Leonita painting, or colorizing or hand tinting the portraits. On occasion, Mr. Denmark would venture away from the studio and capture surrounding landscapes. Early in his career he focused on friends, family and events around him. Many of his early shots were taken in Wilmington, Beaufort, Greensboro and other interesting places. Mr. Denmark was involved in the Raleigh Boy Scouts with his brother Polk Denmark, also a trained photographer, and he went on several hikes, outtings and camping adventures. Some in the series are from a Boy Scout Camp "Camp Buckhorn" towards the mountains. In one series he captured camp life, hikes and even a thunderstorm at night from the top of a mountain. Later when motion film came into the picture, Mr. Denmark shot 16mm film of local historical events such as Amelia Earthart landing in Raleigh and Christening her airplane, and the building of the NCSU Belltower, phase II.

These photos are from the collection of over 80 thousand negatives. We were lucky in that every negative is labeled with the persons name and date of the photograph. While we make great efforts to read the writing of who the negative is of, we are not 100% accurate on our entries of the names due to hand writing. In some cases you may want to search using multiple names, last name, and/or first names. With some of the WW I shots, we are still trying to ID & research them for authenticity of dates and locations. Any help or suggestions with this is appreciated! 

Jay Denmark 04-20-11