The museum is based on the collection and the current analog darkroom of the Vladimir Dorofeev photo studio, established in 1997. Yaroslavl Museum of Photography was registered in 2016. It took more than two years to find a suitable location.
In 2018, with the assistance of the Governor of the Yaroslavl Region Dmitry Yuryevich Mironov, the Government of the Yaroslavl Region, the Department of Culture, the Yaroslavl Municipal Property Management Committee and the Yaroslavl City Municipality, it was possible to obtain a preferential lease for non-residential premises in a house at 150000, Yaroslavl, Trefoleva St. 12, 2nd floor.