Alejandrina Alba Muñoz (1837–ca. 1915) practiced photography for almost forty years, with a steady but overshadowed career under the names of her two husbands. In practice, it was she who assumed the former’s absences and maintained the studio while the latter pursued his career as a cartographer. It is therefore not surprising that, during her first widowhood, Alba registered the studio in her own name, without presenting herself as “widow of” or “successor of,” and declared herself the principal photographer for all intents and purposes. This determination, overshadowed during her marriages, reappeared later in her repeated and unsuccessful claims for a widow’s pension. Alba’s case demonstrates not only how 19th-century women photographers navigated the legal and social obstacles of their time, but also the reluctance of recent historiography to fully recognize them as authors when men held the positions. Her career forces us to reconsider the very concept of authorship, since her roles and responsibilities far exceeded those attributed to them today when they are defined as mere collaborators.