Louis Daguerre
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Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French scientist, artist and photographer recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers o
1844 daguerreotype
An engraving of Daguerre during his career
View of the Boulevard du Temple, taken by Daguerre in 1838 in Paris, includes the earliest known verified photograph of a person. The image shows a busy street, but because the exposure had to continue for four to five minutes the moving traffic is not visible. At the lower right, however, a man apparently having his boots polished, and the bootblack polishing them, were motionless enough for their images to be captured.
Daguerreotype possibly made by Daguerre in 1837. The subject is believed to be Constant Huet, who worked at the Natural History Museum, where Daguerre took pictures in 1837. If correct, this would be the oldest surviving portrait photograph of a human being.
View from the Window at Le Gras is the oldest surviving photograph. It was created by French inventor Nicéphore Niépce between June 4 and July 18, 1827, in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France, and shows pa
The original plate, showing rooftops visible from a second-story bedroom window
Demonstration of camera obscura. The original image gets rotated and reversed through a small hole onto an opposite surface.
Gernsheim's enhanced version
The original plate on display at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, in 2004