Photography

Photography has long been a favorite hobby and even career of individuals from all around the world. Young children, teens and adults all love to take pictures of favorite places, people, events and moments to help them record and share their memories with others. The word photography comes from combining the Greek words “photos” which means light, with the word “graphein” which means to draw. Sir John Herschel first used this term in 1839 when he combined the two Greek words, and the result was an instant success.

The first “fixed image” photograph was taken in 1827 by two French inventors by the names of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. Originally the two were working together but Niepce died unexpectedly shortly after the first fixed image was captured. Daguerre worked for several years to develop a method of capturing the fixed image picture for long periods of time as the original photographs required long periods of exposure time and the images rapidly faded. The first modern photograph was named after Daguerre, and was known as the dageurreotype. In 1839 Daguerre, working with Niepce's son, sold the process of daguerrotypes to the French government. The French government then published a manual on the subject and the process become very popular all across Europe.

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Photography requires two different processes. The first one is the actual capture of the image using a device such as a camera. The second process is transferring the image onto a medium and preserving it. The second process was by far the most challenging as the various chemicals tended to cause images to fade somewhat or to disappear entirely with time. It wasn’t until 1871 when Dr. Richard Maddox invented a way of using a dry developing processing that used gelatin that photography become practical and more economical than the original wet developing processes.

To further make the process available to a wide number of people the use of thin strips of celluloid could be used to capture images in a simple and relatively inexpensive box camera. The first box cameras and celluloid film was marketed by George Eastman in 1884.

Photography became amazingly popular both in Europe and America. This was one of the few trends that was affordable to both working people and the upper class. In London in 1857 there were over 147 different photography studios. One picture would cost approximately one guinea at that time, which was almost equal to a week’s income. Within just a few years the cost of a photograph would drop down to just a few shillings.

There were many inventions that led to the increase in popularity of the hobby. Most photographers agree that the commercially produced cameras were the single biggest drive to popularize the art form. Instant cameras and commercial film development at reasonable prices also helped cameras become a part of almost every household. Currently digital photography, disposable cameras and even camera phones continue to make photography part of our lives.

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