EOTO 1: Cameras

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A camera
 

The word Photography comes from the Anicent Greek terms 'Phos' (meaning light) and 'Graphe' (meaning writing or drawing)[1]. These terms give a complete picture of what it means to photograph something: it is a process that uses light to draw (or write) an image. Using this description, it's easier to see why historians consider the photograph's earliest origins to be in the study of light by the Ancient Greeks and Chinese. 


Ancient philosophers responsible for photography
 

Of these ancient philosophers, the most influential would be Mozi, (470–391 BCE), Aristotle (384–322 BCE), and Euclid (323–283 BCE). These natural philosphers discovered pinhole projection, perfected the projection process, and discovered that light travel in straight lines, respectively[2].These discoveries and innovations would set the groundwork for later innovators to build upon.

These ancient natural philosophers focused mainly on light projection through pinholes, which is the basis of modern camera technology. The device that allows viewing a light projection through a pinhole is called a Camera Obscura (Latin for "dark room"). These devices (chiefly used in China until the 11th century) were instrumental in the later development of cameras and photography in the 19th century. Until that, however, they were used mostly as a gimmicky toy[3].

Camera Obscura

The first notable instance of what modern folk would call a photograph was taken by Thomas Wedwood and his associate Sir Humphery Davy. The pair "made images of paper and white leather coated with silver nitrate. They laid leaves and paintings on glass upon the sensitive materials and exposed them to sunlight, which darkened the silver"[4]. Unfortunately, while the pair was on the right track with their combination of sunlight and chemical processes, they did not ultimately find a way to permanently preserve the images they made before Wedgwood died.

Later, Joseph Nicephore Niépce, a French inventor, built upon Wedgewood and Davy's process in order to "produce etched plates without having to rely on skilled handiwork"[4]. By using a modified chemical formula, he was able to produce an image that would last long enough to make an engraving with a Camera Obscura through a process he dubbed "heliography" (Latin for "sun drawing"). The only surviving image made through this process, made in 1826, is called “View from the Window at Le Gras” and is widely considered the earliest surviving camera-produced image.[4]

“View from the Window at Le Gras”

MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Vol. 4th ed, Routledge, 2007.

APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. (2007). The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Vol. 4th ed. Routledge.
“View from the Window at Le Gras,

MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Vol. 4th ed, Routledge, 2007.

APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. (2007). The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Vol. 4th ed. Routledge.
“View from the Window at Le Gras

MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Vol. 4th ed, Routledge, 2007.

APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. (2007). The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Vol. 4th ed. Routledge.
“View from the Window at Le Gras

MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Vol. 4th ed, Routledge, 2007.

APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. (2007). The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Vol. 4th ed. Routledge.

After the success of Niépce's process, another french inventor named Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre contacted Niépce to attempt to capture permanent images with Camera Obscura instead of just etching engravings from temporary images made by them. Together, the pair worked on inventing the "daguerreotype," an image made by exposing an silver iodide plate to a Camera Obscura, then perserving it with a chemical bath of sodium chloride. Even though Niépce died two years before the first "daguerreotype," he is still credited as the partial discoverer of this process thanks to his work that was so prerequisite to the process.[4]

.Wedgwood and Davy made images on paper and white leather coated with silver nitrate.

MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Vol. 4th ed, Routledge, 2007.

APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. (2007). The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Vol. 4th ed. Routledge.
Wedgwood and Davy made images on paper and white leather coated with silver nitrate.

MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Vol. 4th ed, Routledge, 2007.

APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Michael R. Peres. (2007). The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Vol. 4th ed. Routledge.

"Still Life" - daguerreotype by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre



[1] Bull, Stephen. Photography. Routledge, 2010.
[2] Belbachir, Ahmed Nabil. Smart Cameras. Springer, 2010.
[3] https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/introduction-camera-obscura/
[4] Michael R. Peres. The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Vol. 4th ed, Routledge, 2007.

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