iGCSE Photography Edexcel

History of photography

Early Beginnings of Photography

• Camera Obscura, which is Latin for 'dark room', was a natural illustration of the concept of photography; it projected an image onto a screen for tracing.

• Johann Heinrich Schulze demonstrated that silver nitrate darkened upon exposure to light in the 1720s.

First Permanent Images

• French inventors Nicéphore Niépce and Louis Daguerre played crucial roles in the development of permanent photography.

• Niépce created the first permanent photograph in 1826 or 1827, though it required eight hours of light exposure and later faded.

Daguerreotype Era

• Daguerre, Niépce's partner, created the first practical photographic process, the Daguerreotype, which produced a sharp, permanent image with less light exposure.

• This era marked the beginning of photography as a commercially viable medium.

Period of Experimentation

• A number of experimental techniques emerged following the Daguerreotype, including the ambrotype and tintype.

• Henry Fox Talbot invented calotypes, a negative-positive process that allowed multiple prints from a single negative, revolutionising the mass production of images.

The Age of Film

• George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera in the 1880s; it was simple to work with and made photography accessible to everyone.

• Celluloid film was introduced in the late 1880s and soon replaced photographic plates, thus becoming the most common photographic medium until the arrival of digital.

The Rise of Digital Photography

• Digital photography, which uses electronic sensors to record the image instead of physical film, became widely available in the late 20th century.

• With the advent of smartphones, photography has become part of everyday life for many people.

Influential Photographers Throughout History

• Pioneers like Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Robert Capa have made significant contributions to the development of creative, artistic, and journalistic photography.

• Contemporary photographers such as Annie Leibovitz, Steve McCurry, and Cindy Sherman have challenged traditional photography concepts and continually evolve the art form through their work.