Photography is an amazing work of Art. It captures key moments that could be remembered for generations. Photography has been around for centuries! There is no answer to when or how it began and no one can be credited for it. Only information is that photography is between 1500 and 150 years old.
Camera Obscura
The Camera Obscura (dark chamber) has been around for centuries, even hundreds of years BCE. It was a box or room with no windows. It had one tiny hole filled with a lens which projected images or objects from the outside wall into the small one. It is the first stage of photography's evolution in Europe. The image would be would be upside down making it easier for an artist to trace or have accurate sketch which would be developed into a painting. Photography hasn't even been imagined at this time but the camera existed.
Daguerrotype
The Daguerrotype was invented by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre and was one of the first form of Photography. It was introduced in 1839 and was the first to come into widespread use. The image would be a fixed permanent on a silver plate and would make a clear image. The Artist or Photographers would use a chemical reaction between silver, iodine an mercury vapour, and then "fixed" with a salt solution to get the image. The only downfall for this method of photography was you can only get one permanent image.
Talbot type
The Talbot Type also known as Calotype, was invented by William Henry Fox Talbot and was made in 1835. It was a new process that produced a negative on paper treated with silver. The exposed paper would be placed over a second paper and then be exposed to bright light creating a positive image. By using this method you would be able to produce multiple copies of single images. The only downfall was the photo was not as clear as Daguerrotype because of photo transfer.
Collodian wet plate process
The Collodian wet plate process was invented by Frederick Scott Archer and was introduced in the 1850's. It produced a clear image that could reproduced multiple times so it was the best of both worlds. it would be made using a clean glass plate evenly coated with collodian. The plate would have to be dipped in silver nitrate solution, instead in the camera and exposed. Immediately after it would have to be developed then allowed to dry. It was not easy to do and if the plate dried before the process was complete, the photograph would be ruined.
Biographies
Lewis Hine
Louis Hine was born on September 26, 1874 was an american sociologist and photographer who took very powerful images for social reform. His photographs of children working in textile mills were pictures that spoke more than words. His photos were instrumental in changing the child labour laws in the U.S.
Mathew Brady
Mathew Brady was born on May 18th, 1896 was one of the most famous and celebrated American photographers in the 19th-century. He was best known for his documentation of the American Civil War and portraits of celebrities, one being Abraham Lincoln. He is the father of photojournalism.
Eadward Muybridge
Eadward Muybridge was born April 9th, 1830 was an English Photographer who invented the zoopraxiscope, a device that projected motion pictures. He would be the founder of motion pictures.