We reached out to professional photographer and host of the "History of Photography" podcast Jeff Curto to get some insight from an expert in the field. When asked what he loves most about photography, Jeff told us, "What I love most about photography - its ability to interpret, alter and enhance our perception of the world in a purely visual way. It's a universal language that allows everyone to communicate on an equal basis - what you see is what I see - no translation needed." We also asked him why learning photo history is important. "If someone wants to learn photography, learning about who came before them is critical," Jeff says. "The way I always put it is this: if you wanted to start to write novels, don't you think that reading as many novels as you can, learning the history of what constitutes a novel and how they are structured would be important? Why should it be different for photography?"

Lastly, when asked how photography enhances our understanding of history, Jeff told us that "photography records history". He went on to explain that, "As soon as the camera's shutter closes, the image recorded is in the past. We can only know the past with any degree of specificity if we have a photograph of it because the camera records each and every detail. Certainly the photographer can editorialize on the scene in question by choosing what to include and what to exclude, but the moment frozen in time is still that exact moment."

While enjoying all of these great historical images, let’s take some time to learn about the history of photography itself. According to an article on The Spruce Crafts written by Liz Masoner, a professional photographer and author, the “basic concept of photography has been around since about the 5th century B.C.E”. Back then, Liz explained, “cameras” could not quite record images, but they could project them onto other surfaces. The first camera obscura, “an optical device that creates an image by focusing rays of light onto a screen or sheet of paper”, used a pinhole in a tent to project images from outside into the dark tent. While they existed before, camera obscuras were not small enough to be portable until the 17th century. Liz mentions that “basic lenses to focus the light were also introduced” around the same time.

Photography as we know it today began in 1826 with the French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. Niépce created the first permanent photograph by using a portable camera obscura to “expose a pewter plate coated with bitumen to light”. Advancements in photography came rapidly in the following decades, with the daguerreotype, emulsion plates and dry plates being formed by the end of the 19th century. 

The daguerreotype was a forerunner of modern film but was replaced by emulsion plates, or wet plates, in the 1850’s. These were less expensive and required only 2-3 seconds of exposure time, but they became obsolete quickly as well, with the invention of dry plates. The new dry gelatine plates were as high quality as wet plates but could be stored, “rather than made as needed”. These were also a huge step forward in allowing for smaller, hand-held cameras. 

Photography was still an elite privilege until the 1880’s, when George Eastman started Kodak. Eastman invented a flexible roll film that no longer required photographers to constantly change the solid plates. He then went on to develop a small box camera, with one lens and no focusing adjustment, that could hold 100 film exposures. Photographers could take their own pictures then send the camera back to the factory to get their film developed and have photos printed. This was the first time cameras were accessible to the average person.  

Since then, photography has developed and adapted over time to capture cultural events and allow individuals to record their own milestones. In the 1930’s, Henri-Cartier Bresson and others began photographing “life as it occurred” rather than only staged portraits, and once World War II began, photojournalists ran with this style. A couple decades later, Polaroid released their Model 95, which blew the public’s minds by developing photos instantly. Polaroid has had a complicated history, reaching its peak in the 1960’s and 70’s, filing for bankruptcy twice between 2001 and 2009, then making a revival over the past few years, with a successful online store today.

After the peak of instant images, the digital age was soon approaching. But first, SLR-type cameras became all the rage after being made widely available in the 1950’s by the Japanese brands Pentax and Nikon. These cameras made image control much easier for photographers, with new accessories like interchangeable lenses. Then, in the late 70’s and early 80’s, “compact cameras that were capable of making image control decisions on their own were introduced”. “Point and shoot” cameras allowed amateur photographers to take pictures without having to worry about controlling the shutter speed, aperture and focus. Then finally, in the 80’s and 90’s, digital cameras became widely available, leading to the advanced cameras we know and love today.