Photography

There are many forms of Media Art, and in this series, we will be exploring the different types. Today's topic is: PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography has become one of our hobbies. It has helped us capture and keep with us the milestones in history - or us - the important moments in our lives. But of course, the camera wasn't always around to keep memories alive. So, how did it come to be what it is today?

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The theory that an image could be reflected to recreate the image was around for centuries, but it was not until the 1800s that development on the camera begun. 

Stage 1:  1500 - Abu Ali Al-Hasan Ibn Al Haytham, the Father of Optics, is credited to have reproduced the first image. It was called the camera obscura. The images, however, could not be kept, as the image faded very quickly.

Stage 2:  1826 - French Inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce took the first photograph (it was very blurry) after 8 hours of exposure to light. He called it heliography. 

Stage 3: 1834 - Louis Daguerre improved Joseph Nicephore's work and named the process called daguerreotyping. It took 15 minutes to take a picture. 

Stage 4: 1871 - Richard Maddox invented smaller cameras that could now be handheld and carried around. 

Stage 5: 1888 - Till the 1880s, cameras were only available to the rich. It was not until 1888 when George Eastman opened the first camera company, Kodak, that cameras were available to the public. 

Stage 6: 1907 - The first color camera, Lumière Autochrome, was developed by two French brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumière. However, it wasn't till the 1940s (after WWII) that color photography gained popularity. 

Stage 7: 1913 - Till the 1900s, cameras only had a capacity of 100 photographs, and producing hand-held photographs was a problem. So Oskar Barnack invented the Leica, the first 35 mm camera. 

Stage 8: 1948 - The first camera that could take an instant picture, Model 95, was introduced. 

Stage 9: 1950 - The first cameras with interchangeable lenses was introduced. 

Stage 10: 1948 - The first digital camera was introduced. 

Stage 11: 2000 - The first phone camera was introduced. 

In my opinion, the camera is really a really incredible device. It has influenced the birth of other forms of media art, such as videos and movies. It has helped us capture milestones and keep them with us. And of course, it has taken art to another dimension. 

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Matt. “When Was the Camera Invented? A History of Cameras • Filmmaking Lifestyle.” Filmmaking Lifestyle, 24 Dec. 2021, filmlifestyle.com/when-was-the-camera-invented/.