The daguerreotype, the first photographic process, was invented by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787–1851) and spread rapidly around the world after its presentation to the public in Paris in 1839.
Photography was probably an inevitable invention - the surprise was that it took so long for it to develop, especially given that the scientific principles that are responsible for it - physical principles such as our understanding of lens and optics and chemical processes that are required to affix permanent images, have actually been known for long before the invention of the first photograph.
If we take a look at the state of photography today, such as the advances of digital camera, artful image manipulation by photoshop, and even the role of paparazzi in media - and the pervasiveness of photographic images in our lives, it is easy to forget that the first photograph ever was taken just around 180 years ago.
Take a look at these rare and amazing pictures to see how life in the world looked like in the 1840s and 1850s.
Photography was probably an inevitable invention - the surprise was that it took so long for it to develop, especially given that the scientific principles that are responsible for it - physical principles such as our understanding of lens and optics and chemical processes that are required to affix permanent images, have actually been known for long before the invention of the first photograph.
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| Life in the world from the 1840s and 1850s |
If we take a look at the state of photography today, such as the advances of digital camera, artful image manipulation by photoshop, and even the role of paparazzi in media - and the pervasiveness of photographic images in our lives, it is easy to forget that the first photograph ever was taken just around 180 years ago.
Take a look at these rare and amazing pictures to see how life in the world looked like in the 1840s and 1850s.
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| 2 women, 3 men and a dog, posed in front of the house |
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| 5 men and 2 women posed in front of the house |
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| A class of children with their teacher |
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| A farmer with his horse wagon |
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| A young man stands in front of his house, somewhere in Canada |
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| St Paul’s Cathedral |
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| Abbot House, Kent |
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| American troops ride into the city of Saltillo during the the war with Mexico |
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| An outdoor portrait of women group |
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| Beside the water, somewhere in England |
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| Big house on the prairie |
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| Couple at Niagara Falls |
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| Doctor making house call on a winter's day, Connecticut |
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| Portrait of English men |
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| Family posed outside their home, Wolcott, NY |
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| Farmer |
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| Father and daughter ridding on a horse |
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| Horse and wagon to 'Dyke & Back' |
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| Lambeth High Street, London |
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| Main Street, Wolcott, NY with horses and wagons |
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| Man with his horse |
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| Men with house-carriage |
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| Niagara Falls |
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| People around a homestead or a general store |
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| Shopkeeper stands outside his corner store |
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| Small town in the Northeast of the US |
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| Stagecoach arrives |
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| The old homestead from New Hampshire, or Vermont |
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| Two guys ridding on the horses |
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| Two ladies out for a drive on a street in Portland, Maine |
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| Two women in a window |
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| Young man proudly showing off his horse and carriage |
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| Young man stands beside his high wheel bicycle |
