The History of Photography

Photography is everywhere—in advertisements, in pictures friends post on Facebook, in the arrays of cameras at stores, and in our own pockets. But where did photography actually begin? In reality, photography is a relatively modern term, and before it was formally adopted, other words were used for similar processes. If we trace the chain back to the very start, we find the concept of camera obscura...

You might want to know how to take better photographs. Perhaps at some point you've had doubts about cost-effectiveness of certain components. But have you thought about the history of photography? Where and how was it born? What led humans to see the world through a lens? It all began with a hole and a very dark room.

The history of photography

The earliest known written mention of the "effect" or "phenomenon" dates back to the Chinese philosopher Mozi in the fifth century BC. Shortly after, Aristotle proved he understood the principle of the camera obscura. Theon of Alexandria, Anthemius of Tralles, and Al-Kindi also conducted experiments, but the most solid references come from around the turn of the first millennium, with the works of the physicist, astronomer, and mathematician Alhazen.

As expected, the camera obscura appears five hundred years later in the documents of Leonardo da Vinci, and by the early 18th century, devices based on the camera obscura were common. Johann Heinrich Schulze established one of the fundamental pillars of photographic chemistry by discovering that silver nitrate reacts with sunlight. A hundred years had to pass for heliography to make its entrance, thanks to Joseph-Nicéphore Niépce, and his photograph "La cour du domaine du Gras" is the oldest surviving permanent photograph (from the 1820s).

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, Niépce's partner, continued his colleague's work after his death, and it was in the late 1830s that he presented the daguerreotype, whose design and patents were acquired by the French state to "liberate them to the world" ... with the exception of the United Kingdom.

Despite its advances, the daguerreotype was replaced by superior technologies within just twenty years. William Henry Fox Talbot created the calotype and is credited with the first negative, but he apparently spent more time fighting for licenses and patents than advancing his designs. History credits Sir John Herschel with the first use of the term "photography" in the late 1830s, although new sources point to another pioneer, the French-Brazilian Hércules Florence.

By the mid-19th century, cameras had become mobile and exposure times had been reduced. The first color image appeared in the early 1860s, Richard Maddox developed the gelatin-bromide process, and in the mid-1880s, George Eastman founded the historic company Eastman-Kodak. His compact cameras took the market by storm, and, believe it or not, in 1975 he created the first digital camera prototype. If only they had continued working on it...

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