From the first camera in 1816, to the 8 megapixel camera we carry around in our pockets now-a-days; pictures capture the finest moments of our lives. But a question still remains, when was the very first picture taken? Of who?
Photography experts have discovered what may possibly be the oldest surviving photograph of a person. What looks like a regular black and white photo was actually taken in Paris, France, in 1838. The picture portrays what seems to be just buildings around Paris. However, a man getting his shoes shined (along with the man shining his shoes) is depicted in the lower left hand corner.
There may be two men shown in the picture, but the rest of the scene looks empty, no horses or wagons are shown passing by; no pedestrians are shown. The man behind this picture Louis Daguerre, was most famous for taking these sorts of photographs where the scenery seemed almost lonely and saddening. From further research, Daguerre was 1st known for using a camera called the daguerreotype, in which consisted of a photo produced on a combination of a silver and copper plate. Since capturing each photo lacked around 7 minutes, wagons and other pedestrians were often to quick for the lens to capture their exact position at an exact moment.
Although cameras have been around for the longest, there was no clue of who took (possibly) the oldest photo of people until today. Now, with the help of image search engines on the internet, this photo has gained a great amount of popularity and recognition. And to think, we can take selfies in a matter of seconds, when it took Louis Daguerre 7 minutes to take a photo of his own? Now that is photo-fantastic