Antique Camera/Photography

There are many technical discoveries that lead to the first permanent photographs in the 1820’s. These photographs were quite crude but represented monumental progress in the art and derived from concepts created by Chinese, Middle Eastern and European scientists.

The first known permanent image was created by Joseph Niepce in 1825. Bitumen of Judea (a petroleum derivative) was coated onto a polished pewter plate. Upon exposure, the unexposed bitumen was washed away, creating a negative image which could be coated with ink and impressed onto paper. Subsequently, Niepce began experimenting with and refining the silver process invented by Johann Schultz in 1724.

At this point, Louis Daguerre entered into a partnership with Niepce and the two of them worked together to further develop the process. Upon Niepce’s untimely passing from a stroke, Daguerre took possession of his notes and continued the development of the process. Daguerre made two important discoveries that made it possible to make an observable image. First, he discovered that iodine vapor would sensitize the silver deposited upon a highly polished copper plate. The copper plate could then be placed in a camera where the image could be focused upon the plate by the camera lens. Second, the photographer would then expose the plate with the latent image to mercury fumes to create the visible image. Then, the plate was immersed in a salt bath to permanently fix the now visible image.

In 1839 Daguerre announced his invention and called it a Daguerreotype. Daguerre did not patent his invention in France but rather accepted a pension from the French government. William Fox Talbot, a British citizen, after reading about Daguerre’s invention, worked to improve the process and subsequently developed a key process improvement – an inexpensive and effective fixer. Miles Berry, working as an agent for Daguerre, obtained a process patent in Britain in August 1839. Berry then sold the patent to Richard Beard in 1841, who very closely protected it and aggressively pursued those who infringed it.

Thus began a torrent of innovation that has lead to the present highly advanced state of photography.

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