Evolution of Photography

Pre-1839: Early Experiments

Camera Obscura, an optical device used since the 16th century, projected an image of its surroundings on a surface.
Late 18th Century, Thomas Wedgwood and Sir Humphry Davy tried to ‘fix’ the camera obscura images onto material, although images faded quickly when exposed to light.
In 1826, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce used a camera obscura to produce the world’s first stable photographic image ‘View from his Window at Le Gras’ - a process called heliography.

Louis Daguerre introduced the first publicly available photographic process, the daguerreotype, in 1839 which created unique and highly detailed images.
Henry Fox Talbot created a different photographic process known as the calotype in 1841, generating paper negatives that could make multiple positives.
The 1850s saw the introduction of the albumen print - a process that used egg whites to bind photographic chemicals to paper.

George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera in 1888, making photography accessible to the general public.
The introduction of the 35mm film by Leica in the 1920s significantly enhanced photography’s popularity and practicality.
Man Ray and his peers in the Dada and Surrealist movements experimented with photographic collage/photomontage techniques during the 1920s and 1930s.

Edwin Land introduced the Polaroid camera, the first commercial instant camera in 1948, which could produce a finished print while the user waits.
The 1960s and 1970s saw colour photography becoming more mainstream for amateur photographers due to the increased availability of affordable colour film and easier colour processing methods.
Digital cameras began appearing in 1991, with Kodak’s release of the DSC-100. Now, digital technology dominates the photographic world with the advent of smartphones and digital SLRs.

The late 19th and early 20th century marked the period of Pictorialism, where artists like Peter Henry Emerson endorsed the idea of ‘naturalistic’ photography.
The Straight Photography movement emerged in the 1930s, with photographers like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston focusing on sharp focus, high contrast, rich detail, and darkroom manipulation.
In the 1980s and 1990s, photographic artists like Cindy Sherman and Andreas Gursky made major contributions to conceptual and staged photography.