Two school pictures circa the late 1880's from south Tulare County:

Photographer's stamp on the back of this photo states: D. M. Churchill, Photographer, Pixley, Cal.

The Daily Alta California newspaper (of San Francisco) 3/17/1889 issue,  indicates that D. M. Churchill of Pixley was a blacksmith.  I would guess that for many small town photographers, taking photographs was just a sideline.

 Two close-ups from this picture:

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 Stamped on the back of this photo:  J. W. Talhelm,  Photographer.  Alila, Cal.

Tulare County land ownership maps of 1892,  list a J. W. Talhelm as owning a small plot of farm land near Alila.     John William Talhelm of Alila is listed as a registered voter in 1890 (Listed age: 23 yrs, Occupation: farmer, Birth place: Pennsylvania).  According to other voter registration records, he moved to the Dinuba area by 1896.     The town of Alila later changed its name to Earlimart.

Only the children near the center of this image appear to be in focus.

Close up: 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////



 Even with the blurry image from the second photo, the school teacher in the two pictures (above)  looks like it could be the same person.   This could even be the same school, just different school houses & different years (e.g. Both photographs could be of Alila's or Pixley's grammar school.).   This teacher could also possibly be the same person in this photo.

Close-ups of the school teacher from the pictures above: