The Revolution

As beautiful as the images it produces, Photography is itself a beautiful creation that man has gifted his fellowmen. Photography is basically a process through which we can make pictures or make impressions of our surroundings by using light. This entire process of photography can be achieved using a device called a Camera. The first known photography is the Daguerreotype. It grew to popularity in the 19^th century and became an innovation through which people could print their portraits. The only disadvantage being that only one photograph could be taken at a time.

Due to this disadvantage of the Daguerreotypes, photography went through another process of change as more and more people started looking for a way to replicate the images or portraits. Photographers also encouraged scientists and chemists to look for a solution so that multiple copies could be made available at a cheap price. This led to another innovation better referred to as the Talbot's process.

After almost 20 years of refinement and experiments, the modern photographic process was born in 1884. George Eastman was the man responsible for the photographic revolution that laid the foundation stone for the photography process as we see it today. Eastman’s dry gel was made solely for the purpose of replacing the photographic plate. Until now, the photographic plate was the only way of making a photograph and a cumbersome process. To add to the agony, a photographer had to carry multiple boxes of photographic plates and various toxic chemicals around with him all the time. George Eastman solved that problem. In July 1888, Eastman came out with his Kodak camera. It was launched in the market with a famous slogan: “You press the button, we do the rest”. Now people could buy this camera and use it, while the developing of the photographs was left for the chosen experts. In 1901, photography was available to the masses with the launch of the Kodak Brownie. This was the start of another era of photography.

Here is a timeline of events during the evolution of photography

5th-4th Centuries B.C.: Greek & Chinese philosophers were discussing the basic principles of the optics and the camera.

1664-1666: Sir Isaac Newton discovered that the white light actually composed of different colors.

1727: Johann Heinrich Schulze made an astonishing discovery that silver nitrate became dark when exposed to light.

1814: Joseph Nicéphore Niépce achieves the impossible. With his camera obscura, produces the first photographic image. Drawback: requires 8hrs of exposure time to get the image and the image is not permanent.

1837: The first daguerreotype invented by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre was able to produce a fixed image that did not fade. The exposure to light also reduced considerably to just thirty minutes.

1840: The first American patent for photography was issued to Alexander Wolcott. The patent was for his camera.

1841: William Henry Talbot masterminds the Calotype process. This process was able to make multiple copies of a single photograph by using the negative-positive process.

1843: The first advertisement with a photograph was used in Philadelphia.