These Are The 19 Oldest Surviving Photographs Known To Humankind, And They're Stunning
Photography has influenced society since its inception in the 11th century. The oldest photographs depict fascinating details about life before pictures were common. From historical war photos to amazing images of space, the earliest surviving pictures known to humans have a profound and engaging aura.Â
The very first camera was invented by an Iraqi scientist in the 11th century. Called the "camera obscura," the device only projected images onto other surfaces, and upside down at that. However, in the early 19th century, photography as we know it was born. French photographer Joseph Nicéphore Niépce used a portable version of the 11th-century device "to expose a pewter plate coated with bitumen to light." This became the first incarnation of permanent photography.
The images in this list are some of the oldest photographs, and most of them are the first of their kind. From the first picture ever taken by Niépce to the first movie, these images capture the development of permanent photography throughout the course of the 19th century.Â
First Photograph On A Camera
View from the Window at Le Gras, 1826, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France
First Reliably Dated Daguerreotype
L’Atelier de l'artiste, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, 1837
First Photograph With A Human In It
Boulevard du Temple, 1838, Paris, France
First Self-Portrait Photograph
"Robert Cornelius, head-and-shoulders [self-]portrait, facing front, with arms crossed," 1839, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Oldest Surviving Photograph Of A Woman
Dorothy Catherine Draper, John William Draper, 1839-1840
First Photograph Of The Moon
1840, rooftop observatory at NYU, New York, US
