Biography provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
 
The Edinburgh partnership of Hill and Robert Adamson represented the absolute high point of the earliest days of calotypy. Born in Perth, Hill published his first serious lithographs while still a teenager. Moving to Edinburgh, he quickly established a reputation as an accomplished landscape artist. Hill was a highly attractive figure, both in physique and personality, and with his talent and bonhomie he built a wide circle of artistic friends. In 1829 he was a founding member of the Society of Artists, which later became the Royal Scottish Academy (he would be its secretary throughout his lifetime). When the Disruption took place in the Church of Scotland in 1843, Hill was so moved by the courage of the breakaway ministers that he publicly vowed to record the more than four hundred of them in a giant portrait. Fortunately, Adamson had just established his calotype studio on Calton Hill, and Sir David Brewster put the two men in touch, resulting in a truly symbiotic partnership that almost immediately began to produce calotype portraits of great eloquence, sensitivity, and good humor. The firm’s reputation grew rapidly, and their clientele soon included the society of Edinburgh. Although known primarily for their portraiture, Hill & Adamson also produced important landscapes, architectural views, and studies of the fishing community of Newhaven. Adamson’s tragic early death brought an end to the partnership, which had lasted only a little over three years, nevertheless producing thousands of significant photographs. Hill remained active in the artistic community, but his photographic work following Adamson’s death is of little interest. He entered Hill & Adamson’s calotypes in the Great Exhibition of 1851, giving full credit to his late friend, as well as the 1854 exhibition of the Royal Infirmary Fund in Dundee; the 1856 exhibition of the Photographic Society of Scotland in Edinburgh; the 1857 exhibition of the Birmingham Photographic Society; and the 1859 exhibition at the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Aberdeen. At the 1862 International Exhibition in London, Hill displayed the enigmatically titled Contributions to Photography, his final showing in a photographic exhibition. In their very brief collaboration, Hill & Adamson proved beyond a doubt that photography was an art.
 
Wikipedia
 
David Octavius Hill (20 May 1802 - 17 May 1870) was a Scottish painter, photographer and arts activist. He formed Hill & Adamson studio with the engineer and photographer Robert Adamson between 1843 and 1847 to pioneer many aspects of photography in Scotland.