Joseph Nicéphore Niépce-View from the Window at Le Gras

1826 Joseph Nicéphore Niépce-View from the Window at Le Gras

     Blurry as it may seem, it is actually the  photograph that has survived to today. The milestone picture was shot by a French scientist in his hometown out of his windowsill as a experiment of his invention in 1826.

     People have always wondered how light works and if we could store the image we see. Mo Ti (墨翟) was thought of as the first person to have found the the principle of  pinhole camera (針孔相機). Later there were famed scientists such as Aristotle that were also curious about the mechanism carried on the work. And there was Da Vinci, who made use of camera obscura (暗箱), but only on painting.

camera obscura

    What followed was more serious work, on how to preserve the image established by the light, then how to last the image longer. Chemists tried out several compounds, first silver chloride, then in between many different ones with pros and cons. This process took place in 19th century, and the World's Exposition really took the invention into the public. People from the middle class who couldn't afford the frightening price of oil painting turned to photography.

     Pictures of black and white just wasn't good enough, later inventions claimed the era of colored photographs. Then there were digital cameras and films. Below is the very first picture in color taken by Maxwell. The photograph was shot several times in order to collect the different colors, mainly composed of color red, blue, and green.

 James Clerk Maxwell 

 1957 Russell Kirsch-The First digital Scanned Photograph 

1825 Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, The Father of Photographs

     The invention of photography indeed had a great impact on we human beings. Not only did it change our way of living in some ways, but it also broadened our horizons considering the news from abroad. If it were not for the technique of photography, we could have led a rather information-lacking lives. Make good use of it and be grateful to those who devoted their lives to this!

     Although it doesn't quite match my contents, I strongly recommend you to see the film HUGO. In this lovely film, it gives you a brief but fascinating introduction of the first film ever made. Have a look of it!

For more information, go to:

http://listverse.com/2009/01/13/top-10-incredible-early-firsts-in-photography/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_camera

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collodion_process

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/wallpaper/photography/photos/milestones-photography/niepce-first-photo/

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/wallpaper/photography/photos/milestones-photography/color-tartan-ribbon/

Pictures from:

wikipedia

"Camera Obscura in Use" by The Bearded Man - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camera_Obscura_in_Use.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Camera_Obscura_in_Use.JPG

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