Eliot Porter (1901-1990) was an American photographer and medical researcher. Born into a family with an intense love for nature and science, Porter began as an amateur photographer, taking photos of birds outside of his family's property in Maine. After earning both an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard University, Porter was encouraged by photographer Alfred Stieglitz (a friend of the artist's brother, Fairfield Porter) to pursue the career full-time.

Porter is best known for his photographs of nature, in which he developed new methods of color photography to capture fleeting moments of birds or other wild phenomena. Described as "intimate landscapes", Porter's photography greatly influenced the art world's acceptance of color photography as a legitimate medium.