In 1845 he began an apprenticeship as a lithographic writer and engraver; in 1855 he set up as a photographer in Woodlands Road, Glasgow with Berwick, a medical student; in 1857, he established an independent business at 116 Sauchiehall Street, moving to 202 Hope Street and establishing a photographic printing works in Hamilton; in 1873 he moved to 153 Sauchiehall Street which was also a fine art gallery; Annan took over the Hill and Adamson studio for a year in 1870; his later work was dominated by reproduction of fine art, often using the carbon process; in the 1870s his brother and sons joined the business; in 1893 he learnt to use the photogravure process.