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Oldest Existing Photograph
Joseph Nicephore Niepce creates the worlds oldest existing photograph, which he calls a 'heliograph' or sun drawing. Exposure time: 8hrs. -
Exposure time is reduced to minutes
Exposure times are reduced to a matter of minutes, which allows portraits to be taken for the first time. -
Talbot publishes the first book of photographs
Talbot publishes 'The Pencil of Nature,' the first book of photographs. -
Photographs begin to replace drawings in advertisements
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Vogue Magazine is launched
Vogue Magazine is launched -
Brassai's 'Paris de Nuit' is published
Many of the images in this book portray a sleeping city, %u201Ca phantasmal and unreal Paris, plunged in darkness and fog,%u201D as he later put it. Of these one of the most eerily evocative is %u201CCobblestones,%u201D which was on the cover of %u201CParis de Nuit%u201D -
Weegee publishes the 'Naked City'
In 1945, Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, publishes a photography book called, Naked City. With its lurid tabloid-style images of Manhattan crime, crowds, and boisterous nightlife, Weegee changes prevailing journalistic practices almost overnight. -
The 'Family of Man' exhibition is curated by Edward Steichen
The Family of Man was composed of 503 photographs grouped thematically around subjects pertinent to all cultures, such as love, children, and death. After its initial showing at The Museum of Modern Art in 1955, the exhibition tours the world for eight years, making stops in thirty-seven countries. The photographs in the exhibition focus on the commonalties that bind people and cultures around the world and the exhibition serves as an expression of humanism in the decade following WWII. -
Diane Arbus's first book is published
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Eadweard Muybridge photographs the horse 'Occident' in motion
Muybridge was approached by the President of the Central Pacific Railroad, Leland Stanford, to attempt to photograph a horse trotting at speed, to settle a long-standing controversy among racing men as to whether a trotting horse had all four hooves off the ground at any point. -
Cindy Sherman's 'Untitled Film Stills' are exhibited
Sherman began making these pictures in 1977, when she was twenty-three. The first six are an experiment: fan-magazine glimpses into the life (or roles) of an imaginary blonde actress, played by Sherman herself. The photographs look like movie stills%u2014or perhaps like publicity pictures%u2014purporting to catch the subject in unguarded moments at home.
