The History Of Photography And The Evolution Of Cameras

Aristotle once quoted that “a soul never thinks without a picture”. That is why photography has always been a part of the lives of hundreds of people around the globe. Capturing special events or people on photographic paper is one of the best ways to remember these “specials” of one’s life.

Photography is defined at brainyquote.com as the science which relates to the action of light on sensitive bodies in the production of pictures, the fixation of images, and the like. A camera is the device used today to transfer an image onto either a sheet of film or a space on a digital hard drive. Nonetheless, as was aforementioned, photography has always been a part of man’s life. This is attested by the early cave paintings that manifest man’s desire to record himself, his activities, and the environment around him.

It was in the 11th Century when the Camera Obscura was invented by Ibn al-Haytham. The camera obsura was the first known camera invented though the basic principles of optics and the camera were first described in the 5th and 4th Century BC by the Chinese and Greek philosophers. The camera obscura was able to produce a photograph printed on a photographic paper in 1827. Prior to this, the device was only used for viewing and drawing purposes. The first photograph was captured and printed on paper by Joseph Nicephore Niepce. Various experiments were conducted to improve the quality of photographs as well as the way of capturing images based from Niepce’s creation on the years that followed.

Today, photography comes in a multitude of types. Among the most popular of these types are black and white photography, documentary photography, macrophotography, and advertising photography. Black and white photography, also known as B&W, which is one of the oldest and most popular types of photography, involves the use of black and white colors to give the photo a timeless and regal look. Documentary photographs, on the other hand, tell stories with images and aim to serve as historical documents of a political or social era. Macrophotography, alternatively, describes the field of photography where pictures are taken at close range. Lastly is advertising photography where photographs are used to advertise various products and services of companies.

With the advancements in technology, cameras, which are the main tools used in photography to capture images on photographic paper or other digital formats, also now come in a variety of types. The two major types of camera today are point and shoot cameras and SLR cameras. Point and shoot cameras refer to those tools where the camera is pointed at something and the shutter is tripped to capture the image. These cameras are easy to carry and are often small and compact. Single Lens Reflex, which characterizes SLR cameras, on the other hand, refers to how the light enters the camera. These types of cameras produce better quality photographs than P&S image capturers.

With the number of events that may happen in one’s lifetime, he/she may not be able to remember all of these said events. As such, capturing these events on photographic paper-or videos-will definitely help one always remember these special events of his/her life.

Conrad Albert is a freelance photographer from Germany. Albert’s subjects often involve the environment. During his travels to take photographs, he always keep at hand a good amount of photo paper (“fotopapier” in German) where he can immediately print images.