Albee got his start at age sixteen, working in a photographic supply shop owned by Byron Harmon.[2][3] He went on to work for McBride Studios with business partner Ella E. McBride. She soon become a well-known photographer in her own right, and credited Albee's influence with inspiring her to learn to take her own photographs. He also was an early mentor to the Japanese American photographers Frank Kunishige and Soichi Sunami, who assisted him at McBride Studios.[4]