John Roland Calder was born on May 29, 1893 in Malden, Massachusetts. His family moved shortly thereafter to San Francisco. He frequently used the name "Roland Calder." He attended the University of California at Berkeley, majoring in Agriculture. He was a member of the Camera Club and the Rifle Club. He graduated with a degree in agriculture in 1917. Roland was in a military training program and received a commission as an Army Lieutenant in 1916. His military record shows no active service in World War I. Sometime before 1922 Roland married Marian Stiltz, also a 1917 University of California graduate. She was a trained singer, a mezzo-soprano, and sang for women's groups in the area. Roland and Marian lived in Berkeley and then in Oakland, California. Roland worked mostly in photography and later as a public school teacher. The couple did not have any children. He was a salesman for the Trainer & Parsons Optical Company at 228 Post Street, San Francisco. He was a member of several photography and camera clubs and entered photographs in contests. In 1929 Roland filmed employees of the Ransohoffs women's clothing store as they moved from 225 to 259 Post Street. He may have filmed a comedy there at the same time. Both films, "Last Scenes of 225 Post" and "Just Any Day at Scandalhoffs" can be found online. Roland Calder took this photograph in 1940 at a San Francisco nightclub: