Photography History

There are not too many places in the world you can go to without seeing a photograph of some sort. The art of Photography has been around our lives for hundreds of years now, and seems that every day there is someone looking to develop new ways to take a picture. But with all the artist's and photographers in the world how many can actually say they know where the idea of taking pictures with a camera came from. Since photography is a popular career field to study, the history of photography was an aspect that I found quite curious so decided to do some research. Although the history of photography is a broad subject I have decided to break it even further down on how the birth of the first picture and camera and when/were they were created.

According to the book "A World History of Photography" written by Naomi Rosenblum, the idea of photography ranges all the way back to the year 1839. She writes that "London and Paris separately announced the idea at about the same time". The first idea came from a man named Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. His idea was called the "daguerreotype" which contained a "laterally reversed monochrome picture on a metal plate". It was said that the daguerreotype was "unique", and "unduplicatable". ("A World History of Photography" para.1)
The second idea came from a man named William Henry Fox Talbot.
His idea was very different then Daguerre's, a "monochromatic, tonally and laterally reversed—a negative image" was placed on a piece of paper instead of a sheet of metal. When the negative picture was placed in sunlight the image was transferred in reverse, causing it to look like a normal image. Rosenblum goes on to write that "Daguerre's picture on metal was far more popular during that time then Jacques's negative-positive process". But on the other it was Jacques's "negative-positive process that set the platform for developments in photography". ("A World History of Photography"
para.1)

Now when we think of photography we always think camera, for the obvious reason's but according to a history timeline originated by Ted Ellis the "camera" was created long before photography. Ellis states that in the Fifth Century BC the camera obscura was invented, which consisted of a darkened room with a small hole that the sun shined through and people were able to see the outside scene through. In which makes perfect sense, since the phrase camera obscura means "Darkened Room". (The Origins and History of Photography. Photo History/History Timeline)

Although the thesis of this paper is about the birth of pictures and cameras lets fast forward to present time. Now to most this wouldn’t seem that important but according to Ellis’s timeline it states that in “November 2000 Sharp and J-Phone introduced the first camera-phone in Japan”. Now the reason this seems so important is because camera phones have played such a big role in our society today. Now this creation has set a movement for ages to come and we as society run our lives around camera phones as well as internet cameras, for everything such as business meetings, conference calls or just seeing long distance family members. Which is why students in the photography field understand the importance of the creation of the camera. From the fifth century to now we as humans have made major progression in technology. (The Origins and History of Photography. Photo History/History Timeline)

We as people today love the amazing pictures taken from the newly advanced cameras that technology has created, but we tend to overlook what is really amazing. As much as future photographers love to learn new ways to bring life out of a picture we also know the importance of the history of our career field. Just by knowing the birth of pictures as well as cameras give us photographers even more passion in what we do, for the simple fact that people with the same passion and less technology created what we love today. So hopefully by new artists learning the background and history of what we study and love we can hopefully improve or create something new for future artists to study and love with a passion.