How Photography Started And The Evolution Of Cameras

Most people all over the world would agree that photography has always been a part of their lives. Aristotle once quoted that “a soul never thinks without a picture”. Today, that picture refers not only to a mental image but a physical one that can be viewed either on a photographic paper or a video. These tools are the best ways in today’s digital world to capture the special events on one’s lifetime.

The action of light on sensitive bodies in the production of pictures, the fixation of images, and the like refers to photography. Today, photography involves the use of a device called the camera. Prior to the invention of said device, people have manifested their desire to capture themselves, their activities, and the environment around them through paintings. These early paintings attest to photography’s part in man’s life since the beginning of time.

It was in the 11th Century when the Camera Obscura was invented by Ibn al-Haytham. The camera obsura was the first known camera invented though the basic principles of optics and the camera were first described in the 5th and 4th Century BC by the Chinese and Greek philosophers. The camera obscura was able to produce a photograph printed on a photographic paper in 1827. Prior to this, the device was only used for viewing and drawing purposes. The first photograph was captured and printed on paper by Joseph Nicephore Niepce. Various experiments were conducted to improve the quality of photographs as well as the way of capturing images based from Niepce’s creation on the years that followed.

Today, photography comes in a multitude of types. Among the most popular of these types are black and white photography, documentary photography, macrophotography, and advertising photography. Black and white photography, also known as B&W, which is one of the oldest and most popular types of photography, involves the use of black and white colors to give the photo a timeless and regal look. Documentary photographs, on the other hand, tell stories with images and aim to serve as historical documents of a political or social era. Macrophotography, alternatively, describes the field of photography where pictures are taken at close range. Lastly is advertising photography where photographs are used to advertise various products and services of companies.

The types of devices used in capturing images have been improved significantly in today’s digital world. From devices using film rolls, most are now digital. Generally, though, the two major types of camera used in photography today are P&S cameras and SLR cameras. P&S cameras refer to point and shoot cameras where the device is simply pointed to the image to be captured, and then the shutter is tripped to capture the image. On the other hand, SLR cameras uses the single lens reflex technology, which refers to how light enters the camera, to produce higher quality images to be printed on photographic paper or other digital formats.

With the number of events that may happen in one’s lifetime, he/she may not be able to remember all of these said events. As such, capturing these events on photographic paper-or videos-will definitely help one always remember these special events of his/her life.

Conrad Albert is a freelance photographer from Germany. Albert’s subjects often involve the environment. During his travels to take photographs, he always keep at hand a good amount of photo paper (“fotopapier” in German) where he can immediately print images.