The Origins of Photography series looks at how photography began and slowly grew into the everyday tool we know now. Each part follows the ideas, experiments, and people who helped turn simple light and chemistry into a way of recording stories, memory, and change.
These articles are written to be easy to follow and to give you room to pause and reflect, rather than rush through dates and inventions. The aim is to show how each step in the history of photography still shapes the way we see and photograph the world today.
Part 1 introduces the earliest ideas that sparked photography long before cameras existed. It explores how light, shadows and simple optical discoveries led to the first experiments in capturing an image. This opening chapter sets the foundation for the series by looking at the curiosity and innovation that shaped photography’s beginnings, offering readers a clear starting point for understanding how the craft evolved.
Photography Finds Its Voice After the invention of the daguerreotype and calotype in the early 1800s, photography quickly became more than a technical curiosity. By the mid-19th century, it was shaping science, society, and art. Photographers began to document city life, distant lands, and even war. For the first time, people could see places and…
Discover how early pioneers like Niépce, Daguerre, and Talbot transformed photography from scientific experiment to lasting art. Explore how their inventions shaped the way we see and share images today.
Explore how 19th-century innovations such as the wet collodion, tintypes, and dry plates transformed photography into a global art form. Discover the birth of early colour processes and how these breakthroughs shaped the way we see, share, and connect through images.
