Introduction to photography history

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• Who first invented photography?

  

  It was Joseph Nicéphore Niépce who successfully captured the first photographic image using the Camera Obscura, by taking a view from the window of his house.

• When was color photography invented?

  

  Color photography was the subject of numerous experiments in the 19th century, and it was officially confirmed that the first colored photograph was produced by James Clerk Maxwell in 1861.

• When did cameras start using film?

  Photographic film was revolutionized by George Eastman, who eliminated the need for wet plates by introducing the concept of paper film in 1885.

• When did photography become popular with ordinary people?

  In the 19th century, photography emerged in various styles such as war photography, portraiture, and architectural photography. However, it was only in the early 20th century that photography became more accessible to the general public with formats such as 35 mm (also called 135 film) 105, 110, 120, 126, and 127.

• Who created the first optic lens?

  Ancient civilizations polished crystals, mostly quartz, to replicate the optical abilities that can be found when looking at water. The most famous of these experiments was the Nimrud lens which was made by the Assyrians between 750–710 BC.

• When was instant photography invented?

  The first instant camera was created by Samuel Shlafrock in 1923. However, because it was not commercially successful, Edwin Herbert Land is often credited with being the inventor of instant photography with his camera, the Polaroid Model 95.

• How was the first sequential photograph taken?

  The Horse In Motion by Eadweard Muybridge is the first known sequential photograph. It was captured in 1878 and used by then Californian governor Leland Stanford to investigate whether a horse’s gallop resulted in all four hooves being in the air at the same time.

• When were wetplates invented?

  The wet plate photography process was invented during the 1850s by Gustave Le Gray who theorized about the development process, and Frederick Scott Archer who was hands-on in devising the actual steps of how to create an image on a wet plate.

• What is the 'decisive moment' in photography?

  The “decisive moment” is a phrase coined by legendary street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, to describe the moment in photography when all the elements of a scene – composition, story and emotion – come together perfectly.

• Who was Henry Fox-Talbot?

  Henry Fox-Talbot was an English scientist and pioneer of photography. He is famous for inventing the early “calotype” photography process.

• Who was Louis Daguerre?

  

  Louis Daguerre was a French scientist and photographer. He invented one of the earliest methods of photography, the daguerrotype.

• Who coined the term ‘photography’?

  The word ‘photography’ was first used in 1839 by Sir John Herschel.

• What was a carte de visite?

  

  Carte de visites were small photographic portraits mounted on card that were incredibly popular during the mid-19th century in Europe and the USA.

• When did photojournalism begin?

  

  Photojournalism began with the first photographs of war published in newspapers during the mid-1800s.

• When did fashion photography begin?

  

  The earliest images that could be called “fashion photographs” were made in the mid-1800s by French photographs such as Adolphe Braun and Pierre-Louis Pierson. However it wasn’t until the early 20th century that photography began to be used for advertising fashion.

• What are the contributions of lithography?

  Lithography allowed artists to directly draw their original work onto a limestone surface then, by using a grease crayon, print multiple copies.

• What is Heliography?

  Heliography was invented by Nicéphore Niépce around 1822, and used the sun’s rays to create sun pictures.

• Who was Giambattista della Porta?

  

  Giambattista della Porta was an Italian polymath who was the first to manipulate the image of a new and improved camera obscura through use of a concave mirror, which reflected an image right side up.

• How is Aristotle connected to photography?

  Aristotle described the phenomenon of the camera obscura in the 4th Century BC, which is seen as an ancient building block for the later invention of photography.

• What is the camera lucida?

  

  The camera lucida was patented in 1806 by an English chemist, William Hyde Wollaston, and is an optical device which casted a superimposition of the subject is casted onto a flat surface.

• What is a physiognotrace?

  The physiognotrace, which was invented in France in 1783, was a handy instrument that automated the production of silhouette portraits.

• What were the earliest mediums for portrait photography?

  The two earliest mediums for portrait photography were the daguerreotype, invented in 1839 by Louis Daguerre, and the calotype, invented by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1841.