In 1944, Ralph and Leuba Baum transformed his wedding photography studio, Modernage (West 55th Street), into a photofinishing service laboratory. Leuba Baum (formerly Pavelle, ?–1997) was born into a family of photofinishing suppliers, who provided the couple with contacts and helped them start up Modernage Photographic Services. Unfortunately, no information on the Modernage wedding photography studio or the early life and career of Leuba Baum is available.

Ralph Rudolf Baum was born on 27 July 1907 in Elmshorn, Hamburg, and emigrated in 1936 to New York, where he first worked in a hospital and later in a photo laboratory, where he developed his interest and passion for photography. In 1944 he and his wife Leuba opened the newly-transformed Modernage Photographic Services photo laboratory at 319 East 44th West Street, between the East River and Grand Central Station, an area where other émigré-founded photo agencies (Black Star, PIX, Rapho Guillemette) and photofinishing services (Leco and Pavelle) were also located.

“The laboratory made prints, delivered packages to clients, filed negatives, and even received mail to serve professional photographers form the United Nations, the major news organizations and overseas publications. It was a new backup performance for photographers on the go; most Modernage department heads in the beginning were Jews, often themselves trained photographers.” (Gilbert 1996, 79) One of the first customers was the Black Star photo agency and later the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Jewish Museum New York, and the Metropolitan Museum would all become clients. (Gilbert 1996, 302)

During the 1950s (probably in 1954) Modernage opened a second division with Modernage Custom Darkrooms specialising in the darkroom requirements of photojournalists. It was first located at 480 Lexington Avenue and around 1955 moved to 6 West 48th Street – both top locations in Midtown Manhattan.

On a visit in 1953 to his hometown Elmshorn, Baum came upon some saved objects from the 1930s that had belonged to refugee Jewish families and began collecting Jewish ceremonial objects and artefacts. (Anonymous 1982) More than 800 pieces are today saved at the The Judaica Museum, which the Baums founded in 1982 at the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale (5901 Palisade Avenue, Riverdale).