-
Wedgewood and Davy Collaborate on Early Photography
Thomas Wedgewood and Humphry Davy publish, " An Account of a Method of Copying Paintings upon Glass, and of Making Profiles, by the Agency of Light upon Nitrate of Silver, with observations by Humphrey Davy. Invented by T. Wedgwood, Esq," in which they describe Wedgewood's work applying silver nitrate to paper and exposing it to light via a camera obscura, or pin-hole camera. -
Napoleon is Crowned Emperor of France
Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor and is the first French person to hold the crown in a thousand years. He was handed the crown by Pope Pius VII and placed it on his own head. -
Congress Declares War on England
The War of 1812 begins after tensions rise between France and England against the United States regarding trade and impressment. -
The Invention of Photography
Nicéphore Niépce places silver salts across a sheet of paper and places it in the back of a camera obscura to take a photo of the landscape from a window. This is one of the first successful yet primitive attempts at photography -
Niépce Perfects His Photography
Using polished silver and iodine vapors, Niépce was able to create photos on a metal plate that would not darken or lighten with continued light exposure. The exposure time did take several hours in total daylight. -
The First United Stated Railroad Begins
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became the first United States Railroad to move both passengers an freight. Only 13 miles long, it proved that a steam powered train would reinvent the transportation industry by making it more efficient. -
The Daguerreotype is Invented
Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre Invents the daguerreotype; a highly polished copper plate in which an image would be exposed to it. There was no negative in the process, and they were typically pocket-sized for convenience. -
The Calotype is Invented
Henry Fox Talbot Invents the Calotype to capture a negative image on a sheet coated with Silver Chloride. it quickly became the competition to the growing popularity of the daguerreotype, however, the calotype allowed for the production of more than one print. -
Anna Atkins Creates the First Photography Book
Anna Atkins, a Botanist, created the first photography book comprised of cyanotype impressions of British Algae. By placing algae on light-sensitive paper, then exposing it to light, the algae would leave an impression surrounded by blue. Some argue that Atkins was the first female photographer. -
Hill and Adamson Improve the Game
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson join together to create the first photography studio in Scotland, named "Rock House." Utilizing the calotype, they produced around 3,000 photographs of people working, the landscape, and a large variety of portraits. -
Samuel Morse Sends the First Telepgraph
Morse sends the first telegraph from Washington DC to Baltimore, Maryland and stated, "What hath God Wrought?" This would change the future of communication for years to come -
The First War is Photographed
The Mexican-American War was the first war to ever be photographed. All photos were shot using daguerreotypes which made it difficult to obtain "action shots' of the conflict. Many included landscapes of the battlefields or portraits of soldiers presumably prior to battle. The quality of some shots of men moving have a peculiar emphasis on the main subjects. -
The Potato Famine Ends
After three long years of potato blight caused by fungi ravaged the food supply for Ireland, the famine ended as the potato crop was able to recover. The total Irish population decrease approximately 25% due to death and emigration. -
The Wet Collodion Process is Introduced
Frederick Scott Archer creates the wet collodion process by adding a soluble iodide to a solution of collodion and coating a glass plate with it, then placing it in silver nitrate. While still wet, the glass plate is placed in a camera and exposed, then treated with pyrogallic acid. Though more intense than previous methods, this system was renowned for the detail captured on the glass plate. -
Lewis Carroll Does More Than Write
Famous for his book, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Carroll (or Charles Dodgson) also enjoyed photography as a hobby. Perusing it for over 20 years, he primarily photographed people as well as dogs, landscapes, statues, and skeletons. His controversy stems from his portraits of women, particularly young women aged between 10-15 years old posed nude or semi-nude. One famous young woman associated with this is Alice Liddell, the inspiration behind Carroll's famous book. -
Tintype Makes its Debut
The tintype or ferrotype method was patented by Hamilton Smith in the United States. Similar to its predecessor the daguerreotype, the tintype was a thin sheet of metal coated with chemical to hold an image. Unlike the daguerreotype, the tintype was cheap and could be processed in minutes and placed in a decorative case for keepsake. Thus making it very popular -
Charles Darwin Publishes "The Origin of Species by Natural Selection"
Scientific literature collected by Charles Darwin after traveling the world. Much of his studies come from the Galapagos Islands where he had a fascination with the finches inhabiting the islands. -
Shooting the Civil War
As the Civil War erupted, soldiers were not the only ones shooting. Photographers took to the battlefields to document the war and show the public what was occurring on the lines. It came as a way to validate the field, rather than spread news by hearsay. The timing of war couldn't have come at a better time for photography as it was captured through daguerreotype, ambrotype, and tintype methods, each having their own advantage. But it also brought controversy to the field. -
Julia Margaret Cameron Clicks with Photography
After receiving a camera from one of her children and moving to the Isle of Wright she began taking photographs of any person she could. Well known for her portraits that focus on a single individual rather than surrounding details, emphasizes the passion that the subject has for their lifestyle or work. -
Lincoln is Assassinated
At Ford's Theater, President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by American Actor John Wilkes Booth during a production. -
Introduction of the Silver Gelatin Process
The silver gelatin process was created by Richard Leach Maddox in England. Silver salts is added to gelatin and added to glass, paper, film, or any other form of support. They could be stored and used in the future, unlike the predecessor, the collodion wet plate process. It is also a film process commonly used today. -
Alexander Graham Bell Invents the Telephone
The first words transmitted on the phone were, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you." -
Thomas Edison Invents the Light Bulb
Creating a vacuum within a class bulb, Edison was able to create a small electrical arc to produce light. -
Kodak Begins its Legendary Journey
In Rochester, New York the Kodak Photography Company began with George Eastman. Selling a simple box-camera with a 100-exposure roll of paper film. The company changed the photography game by putting a camera into the hands of anyone who could afford one and making their statement with the slogan, "You press the button, we do the rest." -
The Eiffel Tower is Completed
Named after Gustave Eiffel, the wrought-iron tower took 2 years to complete. -
Paul Strand Takes a Stand on Pictorialism
Strand grew more to photographing his surroundings and developing the prints without manipulation. Pictorialism had a focus on tones and subject to give off emotion, but Strand much preferred the raw shapes, shading, and imagery the viewfinder would capture. His photography style went on to define the photography mode of the late 1910s and 20s.
