Tomorrow is World Photography Day :

Photography, a creation by drawing with light

by S. Weragoda

"I believe that photography has the power to tell stories, inspire generations and initiate change in the world."
- Korske Ara

To take a picture as a professional photographer can be as exciting as an amateur taking a picture for the first time. However much one is experienced on the subject, the suspense of the outcome of the exercise, whether it has been a success or failure, would still remain.

Rhein II - Andreas Gursky (1999) $4.3 million, the most expensive photo ever sold is a grey river beneath an overcast sky, taken by Andreas Gursky. It was shot in 1999 and sold in 2011.

"Photography" as we know it celebrates its 174th birthday today. Sir John Herschel first used the term back in 1839 when the process became public. As we all now know, the word is a combination of the Greek words for light and writing.

World Photography Day originates from the invention of the Daguerreotype, a photographic processes developed by Joseph Nicèphore Nièpce and Louis Daguerre. On January 9, 1839, The French Academy of Sciences announced the daguerreotype process. A few months later, on August 19, 1839, the French government announced the invention as a gift "Free to the World".

Invention

Another photographic process, the Calotype, was also invented in 1839 by William Fox Talbot (it was announced in 1841). Together, the invention of both the Daguerreotype and Calotype mark 1839 as the year that photography was invented.

Over the years, August 19 has been chosen to celebrate photography, It's past, present and future, technologically and artistically. Some believe that photography - which includes capturing the image and processing it - should have been born sooner given that both process did exist independently prior to 1839. When it did start, though, photography swept up the world and has since gone on to become an integral part of our life. World Photography Day is about celebrating the ability we have to communicate though this powerful visual medium.

On August 19, 2010, World Photography Day hosted its first global online gallery. With 270 photographs shared and website visitors from over 100 countries, World Photography Day was born. Since the launch of the project, people have been celebrating photography on August 19 in their local communities.

History

Taking a look back, there are references to Camera Obscura-like devices as far back as the year 4BC.

But the first permanent photo created using it dates back to 1826 when Joseph Nicéphore Niépce used a Camera Obscura to burn a permanent image of the countryside at his estate in Le Gras, France onto a chemical-coated pewter plate. Photography as we know it today is a result of various independent discoveries. Starting with the Camera Obscura to the pinhole camera to the first box camera (the Brownie), to the film compact and SLR camera right down to today's digital cameras, it's been a journey that has often seen much debate, disbelief and a lot of innovation.

The first photograph of a person, though, came only 13 years later when Louis Daguerre accidently captured a man.

Daguerre was originally photographing a Paris street scene from his window using a Camera Obscura and his newly invented daguerreotype process and the long exposure would mean that moving objects would not make an 'impression' in the image.

However, an unidentified man who stopped for a shoeshine remained unmoved or still long enough to unwittingly become the first person ever photographed. With time, there were of course, many more firsts that photography saw.

The year 1847 saw the first time lightning and war were captured. In 1858, Felix Tournachon, captured the first bird's eye view when he shot Paris from a tethered balloon.

Colour

Colour photography didn't become commercially viable until the late 1900s, but there is a record of a colour photo being created in 1861. Scottish physicist James Maxwell created a very basic colour image by superimposing three black and white images onto a single screen.

The first camera

A bigger revolution, though, was on the cards as George Eastman had introduced the Kodak Brownie and photography was just about to become accessible to everyone.

The second World War and the subsequent Cold War were periods of extremes. What these eras did encourage was a great spirit of innovation and modernisation. Photography was a benefactor during both periods. The late 1930s and 1940s saw a surge in activity that led to many major innovations.

The 135 film cartridge was introduced, making 35mm easy to use in 1934 and this pretty much triggered the modern photography format. The development of the Kodachrome multi-layered reversal colour film (1936) also furthered the progress of photography.

The 1940s were a time of progress across the world and photography was certainly a part of it. Print film from Kodak (Kodacolor, 1942), holographs (1947), the Hasselblad (1948) and another decade later, the first SLR from Asahi Pentax were all efforts started in the '40s and '50s.

While photography was becoming commercially viable, more companies were now interested in getting involved in manufacturing cameras, making film or paper and even enlargers and other photographic accessories and products.

The next stage of development saw a noticeable upgrading in the quality of optics.

Starting with the Nikon F in 1959, the emphasis was laid on improving the quality of photographs. And this meant the development of film, dyes, paper and even lighting equipment.

It was during this time that cameras became more standardised in their formats and film started to be produced in a wide variety of flavours.