Anyone with a love of photography will know what it’s one of the oldest “modern” technologies still around, having first been invented around 200 years ago. In that time, the camera has evolved in countless ways, and today we have access to powerful DSLR cameras that can take pictures that are as clear as the human eye.
But even the cameras of old were capable of some truly impressive shots, and being a technology that swept the world, it didn’t take long for people to start snapping away. With that in mind, these are some of the world’s very first pictures ever taken with a camera.
The First Aerial Photo
Thanks to the power of modern technology, seeing photos from the sky is nothing special, but back in the late 1800s, it was truly special, especially considering that they had no drones or satellites. But James Wallace Black, a prominent photographer, managed to take a picture of the city of Boston while taking a hot air balloon over the city. It’s a magnificent picture that shows what early US cities looked like during the 19th century, offering us a great comparison against the cities of today.
The Very First Colour Photograph
The world’s first colour photograph was taken by James Clark Maxwell, and dates back to 1861. Maxwell was a scientist that is credited with much of the camera technology at the time, and while he did set the picture up, it was ultimately Thomas Sutton that had pressed the shutter button. The picture itself is of a bow that made from tartan and took three different photographs that were then put through a blue, yellow, and red filter to provide the final product.
The Oldest Selfie Ever Taken
Selfies have become a normal part of the modern age, so much so that almost all of today’s smartphones have a front-facing camera, allowing the user to take a picture of themselves. And while many might think that it’s a practice that’s relatively new, it has actually been around for quite a long time.
The very first selfie that was ever taken dates back to 1839, when cameras were first becoming more known among the public in a world far different to our one of electric vehicles and Canadian keno sites. Robert Cornelius was the man that took the first selfie, and it must have taken him a lot of time and effort to get set up due to how large cameras were at the time.
The First Ever Image of A Person
It’s a picture that has captured the imaginations of countless people, but it’s also one that seems fairly uninteresting at first, depicting just a street in the city of Paris. But in actual fact, it’s the very first picture of a human being ever taken with a camera. The man can be found in the bottom left-hand corner of the image, where he is getting his shoes shined. It would have taken around 10 minutes to get the image at the time, but it was one that ultimately changed the course of history forever.
