What will humanity risk to keep our technology?
John Quincy Adams was the first American president to have his portrait taken. This daguerreotype was taken in 1843, after Adams had left office. It was not until 1849 that a US president in office had his picture taken. This was James K. Polk.
When Louis Daguerre took this photo in 1838, he was supposed to capture the Boulevard du Temple in Paris, France. However, a few humans were snapped in the picture too, including a man getting his shoes polished on the lower left side of the photo.
'View from the Window at Le Gras' is considered to be the first-ever photograph. It was taken by French inventor Nicéphore Niépce in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, in 1826.
There are a number of early examples of this photographic process, but 'L’Atelier de l'artiste' by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre is believed to be among the first ones. It was taken sometime around 1837.
This is a self-portrait of Robert Cornelius, taken in 1839 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is not only the first selfie ever taken, but it's also the first known photographic portrait in history.
The first detailed photograph of the moon was taken by John W. Draper on March 26, 1840, from an observatory at New York University.
This 1848 daguerreotype is the oldest surviving photograph of New York City. This image of the Upper West Side in Manhattan was actually sold at a Sotheby’s auction for US$62,500 back in 2009.
This is the first ever daguerreotype photograph of the sun. It was taken by French physicists Hippolyte Fizeau and Léon Foucault on April 2, 1845, in Paris, France.
Before drones, there were hot air balloons! This aerial photograph of Boston, titled 'Boston, as the Eagle and the Wild Goose See It,' was taken by James Wallace Black in 1860. While this is the oldest known aerial photo, it's not the first ever taken. The first aerial photograph was taken by a French photographer named Nadar, but the image was sadly lost.
Photography allowed for a brand new world of hoaxes. The first one was taken in 1840 by French pioneer photographer Hippolyte Bayard. 'Self Portrait as a Drowned Man' was supposedly a photo of Bayard dead.
This is Dorothy Catherine Draper. The portrait was taken by her brother, Dr. John W. Draper in New York City sometime between 1839 and 1840. It's believed to be the earliest surviving photo of a woman.
'View of a Cheyenne village at Big Timbers 1853-1860' is a daguerreotype by Mathew B. Brady and Solomon Carvalho of a Plains Indian village in Kansas Territory taken during the Frïemont Expedition.
The first colored landscape, titled 'Landscape of Southern France,' was taken in 1877 by French photographer Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron.
'Sallie Gardner at a Gallop,' taken in 1878, in Palo Alto, California, is the first high-speed photo series on record. Photographer Eadweard Muybridge captured a horse named Sallie Gardner using multiple cameras.
In 1882, photographer William Jennings managed to capture the first known picture of lightning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The first color photograph (of a tartan ribbon) was taken by Thomas Sutton, under the instructions of Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell (who developed the three-color method) in 1861.
This photo was taken 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Howard, South Dakota, on August 28, 1884.
This phot was taken by French biologist and photographer Louis Marie-Auguste Boutan in 1899 at the Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer in France. The diver, Romanian biologist Emil Racoviță, holds a sign that reads "Photographie sous-marine" (underwater photography).
This image was captured by the V-2 No. 13 suborbital spaceflight on October 24, 1946.
Pictured is Resurgam, the first mechanically propelled submarine built in 1879. This photo was taken before launching.
On December 17, 1903, the Wright Flyer first flew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The flight by the Wright brothers was captured by photographer John T. Daniels.
On June 3, 1965, astronaut Edward H. White II performed the first American spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission. The moment was captured on camera.
This Orange Zinnia was the first flower to be grown in space. The picture was taken by a NASA astronaut in 2016.
Sources: (Ranker) (PetPixel)
See also: Stellar spectacular: NASA photos that will make you feel small
This is believed to be the earliest photographic record of a surfer in Hawaii. The image was found in a photo album from 1890.
American Hannah Stilley Gorby, born in 1746, is considered to be the earliest-born person ever to be photographed. The image dates back to circa 1840.
Believe it or not, the first digital photograph was taken in 1957; way before digital cameras were invented. This is actually a digital scan of a photo originally taken on film. The picture depicts the son of American engineer and digital scanner pioneer, Russell Kirsch.
This is the first photo ever used to illustrate a news story. Titled ‘Barricades on rue Saint-Maur,’ it was captured on June 25, 1848, and it shows barricades in Paris during the June Days uprisings. The photo was published in the French newspaper L’Illustration on the week of July 1, 1848.
This photo was taken on August 23, 1966, by a Lunar Orbiter spacecraft.
This photo from September 17, 1908, captured the death of aviator Thomas Selfridge. Selfridge was the first person ever to die in an airplane crash.
Photography was a radical departure from images created with paint, charcoal, or graphite. This new medium could capture images of the world around us and replicate it, as if we were present in that moment. This changed everything when it came to recording and preserving historical moments, and indeed our personal lives. Today, many of us carry phones with cameras in our pockets and we take photography for granted, but in the early days, things were a bit different.
Have you ever wondered what the very first photograph looked like? Or perhaps what the first digital photo was about? In this gallery, we delve into the history of photography and bring you some of the most iconic images you'll ever see! Click on.
The first photograph ever taken (and other photo firsts)
Here are some of the most iconic photos in history
LIFESTYLE Photography
Photography was a radical departure from images created with paint, charcoal, or graphite. This new medium could capture images of the world around us and replicate it, as if we were present in that moment. This changed everything when it came to recording and preserving historical moments, and indeed our personal lives. Today, many of us carry phones with cameras in our pockets and we take photography for granted, but in the early days, things were a bit different.
Have you ever wondered what the very first photograph looked like? Or perhaps what the first digital photo was about? In this gallery, we delve into the history of photography and bring you some of the most iconic images you'll ever see! Click on.