History Of Photography Essay Example

Photography has promoted tremendous advances in technology and has benefited from many aspects of history. It helped evolve motion pictures, many major parts of art,  and entertainment. Motion pictures later evolved into many famous films we have today. Photography was useful in the 1800s through its beneficial contribution to cultural spread, its improvement in economic awareness for trade, and it left a profound impact on history. 

The first photographic camera was for commercial manufacture, called the “daguerreotype camera.” The daguerreotype was built by Alphonse Giroux in 1839, creating a new world of possibilities. As the daguerreotype spread throughout the world, it quickly grasped the attention of different countries and empires. For example, England and France are two countries that held an interest in the new invention. When the daguerreotype gained popularity, the westerners used the camera to gather information as they traveled to the Middle East and Asia. They used the camera to capture the foreign landscape, architecture, and monuments that were exotic to the westerners, which would hopefully reach their interests. By the 1860s the westerners had begun to open studios and commercial establishments. Marc Ferrez and  Kassian Cephas were amongst the many people that supplied portraits during this period. 

In 1851,  the wet collodion process was a new technique that performed much faster than the previous processes of photography. This technique was invented by an English man named Frederick Scott Archer who revolutionized the idea of photography. His contribution to photography made the process of shooting photos easier and quicker to use. In the article, a picture is provided showcasing a photograph of a samurai in armor presented through a print by Kusakabe Kimbei in the 1870’s - the 90s. The photographs of these samurai provide a way of cultural spread, more specifically, the Japanese culture, to create a more approachable idea of Japan for westerners who are looking for trade or business. Silk, supplies, tea, textiles, and other products are examples of items that would be traded with foreigners. In the end, the culture spread through the use of cameras contributed to trade with foreign countries. 

Lastly, the birth of photography created an opening for motion pictures. When it was invented by Eadweard Muybridge, it was published to the scientific press. The demonstration presented to them was a series of pictures that showcased the galloping of a horse. Many points were acknowledged such as the difference between hand-drawn pictures to that of the animated picture. However, the part that showcased the use of motion pictures was the accuracy of the movement. The article states, “Muybridge projected them upon a screen one after the other with a lantern-slide projector he had built for the purpose; the result was the world’s first motion-picture presentation.” The birth of motion photography opened up a new world for animated pictures, showcasing accuracy, demonstrations, and other points of interest. 

In the end, photography and the invention of the camera impacted the different aspects of European history. For example, cultural prints were left in different areas of the world, allowing for cultural awareness. Economic awareness and trade followed this pattern and allowed for different areas of trade to open up. Lastly, cameras allowed for the birth of motion pictures to be created, allowing for full videos and movies to be innovated later in the future.