Historical Context
In early 1838, Louis Daguerre used his famous daguerreotype process of photography to snap a photo of the Boulevard du Temple in Paris. The streets in the photo appear deserted: this is because the exposure time for the photo was so long that the cars and trams could not be captured.
Thus only the man having his shoes shined and the shoeshiner were motionless enough to be caught. This is thus the first known photograph of a person.
The daguerreotype was the first publicly available process of photography, announced in 1839, and for the following 20 years it was the most commonly used process.
Photo Info
Photographer: Louis Daguerre
Location taken: Paris, France
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Related Events
- 1839-01-09 Louis Daguerre demonstrates his 'daguerreotype' photographic process to the French Academy of Science
- 1839-08-19 Louis Daguerre's daguerreotype photographic process with complete working instructions is published "free to the world" in Paris as a gift to the world from the French government
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