Frithjof Holmboe was born in Oslo, Norway in 1879, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1882. He was a photographer for Northern Pacific before opening his first photographic studio in New Salem, N.D. in 1907.

In 1909, Holmboe moved to Bismarck, and opened a photographic studio downtown across the street from what now is the Patterson Hotel. In 1913 he started working with film and soon after formed the Publicity Film Company. He then contracted with the North Dakota Deptartment of Immigration and various North Dakota counties to produce promotional films as a method of encouraging people to move to North Dakota.