Valentine Blanchard was a prominent English photographer who was widely recognized for his artistic and technical contributions to photography in the 1860s. Both his landscape and his portrait photography were highly valued by the public, commanding high prices and selling well. He was much appreciated by his peers for the technical innovations he pioneered in photographic processes.
Blanchard was born in Wisbech, Isle of Ely. Other Wisbech photographers included Samuel Smith and Lilian Ream. According to Bill Jay, Blanchard "took stereoscopic pictures, cartes-de-visite, 'quality' portraits, instantaneous views, and art studies in platinum". He died in Meadow Lea, Herne Common, near Canterbury.