How many photos have you taken in the last month? Or on the last vacation trip? Or better yet, how many photos do you have in your cell phone gallery? Photography has become something very common in our lives, hasn't it?

There is no doubt that the ease with which we portray the world around us is very great today.

But of course that wasn't always the case. The photograph went through a series of situations that made it as we know it today.

In this article, we will highlight the main milestones in the history of photography and we will highlight the impact that this new medium had on the arts and on people's vision of the world.

How about? Shall we go?

The photograph before the photo

When we talk about photography, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

Entertainment, technology, social networks, art?

Perhaps these associations are common and even natural today. But in truth, photography appeared with a very different purpose; and the first “cameras” were created to Study optics, a field of physics that deals with light and vision.

It is even incorrect to call these initial studies photography, considering that this concept emerged much later. But we cannot ignore the fact that this curiosity about images, light, and shadow were essential for the advancement and establishment of photography as we know it today.

Some of these studies date back to around 400 BC in China, through Aristotle and Ibn Al-Haytham, who lived between 945 and 1040 AD.

Initial studies on photography looked at Incidence of light on small surfaces, making it possible to represent images on walls or fabrics.

Based on this observation, several devices began to be invented to deepen these studies, one of which was the darkroom, which was extremely important for the advancement of photography.

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The evolution of photographic technology

The history of photography is comprised of many technological milestones that allowed its advancement and evolution.

As studies on light and optics began over two thousand years ago, we will list here the most relevant events in history, in a simple and succinct way.

Camera obscura (~400 BC)

The first record of a darkroom dates back to the 5th century BC in a Chinese text. However, there are reports of its use by Aristotle for astronomical studies and later by the Arab Ibn al-Haytham, who used the device to observe a solar eclipse.

Although its records are very old, the camera obscura was still used between the 14th and 19th centuries to assist artists in the production of paintings and images, and by the forerunners of photography.

This device is basically a box with opaque and dark walls. On one of these walls there is a hole and on the wall opposite to it, a photosensitive surface.

When placing an object in front of the darkroom - in front of the hole - the image of this object will be projected onto the photosensitive surface, in an inverted way.

Although the darkroom is not exactly a camera - because there is no capture of images, but rather a reproduction - its use marked the history of what later came to be known as photography.

Darkroom and fine lenses (~1600)

Around the year 1600, the invention of thin lenses attached to darkrooms enabled artists to better paint and draw objects.

The lenses also brought other facilities to the darkroom, since the camera hole had to be smaller to obtain a more precise focus.

With the lenses, it was possible to obtain a more precise and adjustable focus, with no limitation on the size of the darkroom hole.

The first photograph (1826)

Although the darkroom had been used for a long time, it was unable to make a permanent record of the object or landscape in front of it.

The first photographic record occurred only in 1826, by the Frenchman Joseph Niépce, who managed to engrave an image of his backyard on a tin plate.

Niépce used a petroleum derivative called Judean bitumen, which reacts with light, and placed the metal plate in a solvent so that the image would appear gradually.

Despite the success of his experiment, Niépce's image had to be exposed to light for several hours to appear on the metal plate. In addition, the image was not permanent, that is, she Disappeared in a short time.

However, this fact became a milestone of the first photograph in history and was the basis for future experiments that improved this process.

Louis Daguerre and the popularization of photography (1850)

Louis Daguerre, also a Frenchman, worked together with Niépce and continued his photography studies when he died.

Daguerre wanted to perfect the technique created by Niépce and more: I wanted to bring the photograph to as many people as possible.

Because of his desire, Daguerre received support and funding from the French government, in exchange for making your work available to the public, presented to the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1839.

Daguerre's studies improved the Niépce process, replacing bitumen with polished silver and iodine vapor, resulting in a silver iodide film that was much more sensitive to light.

As a result, the fixation time dropped from hours to a few minutes and there was an extraordinary increase in image quality. In addition, this new process has managed to increase the lifespan of the photograph, making it practically permanent.

One of the most famous photographs captured using the Daguerre method was by the writer Edgard Allan Poe and in which we can observe the increase in quality and whose preservation is still being preserved today.

Daguerre not only improved the process, but also created a kind of camera, called Daguerreotype, in his honor.

Thus, as his studies became public, the daguerreotype became popular in Europe and the USA, with 70 studios specializing in this machine in New York in 1850.

That was the First The world's marketable camera and, with good reason, it was a milestone in the history of photography.

Of course, access to the daguerreotype was only possible for elite people, and at that time It was still much cheaper to hire an artist to paint the portrait of your family.

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Improvement of photography (~1850 - 1880)

Daguerre's studies opened the door for several other scientists and photographers to perfect their techniques and contribute to the evolution of photography, such as:

• Frederick Scotch Archer: created the wet collodion emulsion, reducing the cost of producing photographs and improving image resolution;
• Adolphe Disderi: created the Carte-de-Visite, where he placed several portraits on a single plate, reducing printing costs;
• Richard Leach Maddox: created the fixation of images in gelatinous suspension, replacing the collodion emulsion, created by Archer.

The creation of dry sheet metal, by Maddox, was a revolution in the history of photography. Until then, the photos should be revealed practically as soon as they were taken. With dry plates, this need no longer existed, making the Film rolls could decrease in size, also reducing the size of the cameras.

In addition, dry plates were more Safe and photographers didn't have to prepare their emulsions with toxic liquids. This also made it possible to commercialize this new type of plate on a scale.

With this, photography became even more popular and made it possible for this market to grow even more.

Creation of Kodak (1880)

The creation of dry Maddox plates allowed for a series of changes in photography, including the non-dependence on tripods and the invention of several portable and more accessible cameras.

In this context, in 1880, the American George Eastman created a dry plate company that, in a few years, would begin to market its own photographic cameras. George's company name? Eastman Kodak Company.

Kodak revolutionized the photography market, with its cameras that already came with a roller to capture 100 images. Without a doubt, the company helped to popularize and make photography more reachable for people.

The company's slogan was “You push the button and we do the rest”. As a result, Kodak removed the process of revealing the photos by the customer, all that was needed was for the camera to be delivered to one of its studios where the film was unveiled.

Kodak was a true milestone in the history of photography, a company that remained active in the market until the advent of digital cameras.

Color photos (1935)

Without a doubt, one of the greatest revolutions in the history of photography was the possibility of recording color images.

Until then, this process had been carried out by Thomas Sutton and James Clark Maxwell, in 1861. They took black and white photos through color filters, ensuring coloring for the photos.

However, it was the Lumière brothers who invented the main method of capturing color images, called colorful autochromes. Its patent was registered in 1903, but its usability was not so simple and this made it difficult to popularize this method.

It was after 30 years of patenting autochromes that a simpler production method was invented and made available on the market.

In 1935, Kodak launched the Kodachromes, a type of film that allowed color photos to be taken with the company's cameras.

Despite their commercialization, the process of revealing color photos was still complex and, at the time, only 25 studios worldwide had the necessary technology to do so.

However, this technology is still considered one of the admirable in terms of quality and capture method, and was used by Kodak until 2009.

Instant Photography (1948)

Shortly after the popularization of color photos by Kodak, a new proposal was emerging: Instant photography.

Edwind Herbert Land was the founder of Polaroid Corporation and in 1948, he introduced his first instant-reveal camera: the Land Camera 95.

Other manufacturers, such as Kodak and Fuji, created their versions of instant photography cameras in the 1970s and 80s. But Polaroid has always been the reference in the market, remaining so until the rise of photographs and digital cameras.

Modern cameras (1950s - 1980s)

In the 1950s, two Japanese photography companies (Asahi/Pentax and Nikon) introduced SLR lenses to the market.

SLRs were a movable mirror that allowed the photographer to observe through the camera viewfinder exactly the image that would be captured by the machine.

In addition, Nikon began producing machines with interchangeable lenses, allowing greater flexibility and variability in image capture power.

These changes took professional photography to another level, but it was still necessary to make this type of quality accessible to amateur photographers and those who were only looking for photography as entertainment.

With that in mind, in the 70s and 80s, the company Konica Minolta launched a series of cameras with built-in flash, automatic focus and SLR, under the slogan “point and press.”

These innovations made it possible for amateurs to also achieve good qualities in their photos and made cameras spread to all levels, whether professionals and enthusiasts or just for weekend entertainment.

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Digital cameras (1990 - today)

The first digital camera was launched in 1991 by Kodak. However, photographs and attempts at digital capture date back to 1975.

A Kodak DSC 100 was produced from the body of a Nikon F3 and was launched with a 1.3 megapixel camera, with external memory.

In 1994, Kodak launched a digital camera with a memory card and ISO sensitivity of 1600. However, if you wanted to buy this equipment, you would have to shell out the trifle of U$17,950!

Over the years, technology advanced more and more and cameras became better, lighter, more robust and more affordable.

In addition, with the advancement of cell phones and smartphones, there was the great fusion between mobile phones and cameras.

Nowadays, it's practically impossible to find a modern cell phone without a built-in camera.

This change from analog to digital affected several companies, including the most established in the market, such as Kodak itself, which was responsible for several innovations and milestones in the history of photography.

Companies had to adapt to this new reality, but one thing that hasn't changed in all those years was people's desire to photograph and portray everyday and special moments.

Photography and its impact on the arts

Before the advent of photography, people already liked to portray themselves and their relatives and to have the possession of images of their ancestors.

Without the photo, this representation was done through artists who painted the portraits of their clients.

Of course, the hiring of these artists was not accessible to everyone, almost exclusively to the people of Elite who had more purchasing power. However, there were some cheaper techniques so that less wealthy people could also enjoy this art, such as the drawing of silhouettes, for example.

In this sense, portraits were a very specific form of art, practiced by artists who specialized in realism. There was no doubt that the reproduction of reality on canvases, using paints, was an artistic activity.

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The daguerreotype and the portrait revolution

It is not strange to say that with the invention of the daguerreotype, the market for painted portraits suffered a Big impact.

The machine was able to provide a process of much easier image capture than was the case with painting — even though to use the daguerreotype, people had to remain motionless for many minutes and still be accessible only to a more fortunate class in society.

In addition, the daguerreotype also began to be used to create Souveniers. In 1850, people were already portraying the ruins of Rome with machines to sell them to tourists, leaving aside the engravings and lithographs used until then.

With the advancement of technologies, as seen above, it became easier and faster to capture images mechanically, instead of entrusting this work to artists.

In this way, they appeared 3 groups of people:

1. those who believed that Photography wasn't art because it was the fruit of a machine and not of human creativity;
2. Those that were seen in Photography: an auxiliary use for paintings, containing references from the real world, but which should not be considered an art form;
3. But what They compared photography with lithography and paintings, being very enthusiastic about this new technique, considering that it would be as significant as any other type of art.

Based on this, there were several arguments and published articles defending each of these positions. It was clear that the artistic class was feeling, in a way, threatened by this emerging media.

The Rise of Photography as an Art

Although there was this division between groups with different views on photography, during the 1850s, The community of photographers got together and fought hard to achieve the recognition of photography as art.

In this sense, several groups and publications have emerged in favor of this artistic vision of photography. There were even important foundations such as Photographie Society of London And the Societe Française de Photographie.

By the end of that decade, several art exhibitions and galleries exhibited photos as works of art, causing much criticism from opponents, but which undoubtedly strengthened the artistic vision of photography.

Responsible for modern art?

It is understandable that the emergence of photography has caused discontent and mistrust of the artistic class of the time.

Painters and other artists had studied and developed various techniques to be able to portray the world exactly as it is, on their canvases. The realism movement was very important for art.

Thus, when a machine capable of capturing the real world more easily and quickly appears, it is a justifiable reason for discomfort and lack of resilience.

However, every break of pattern may bring with it a door to another relevant change.

That's what happened with the New directions in art since the rise of photography.

We don't mean to say that photography was solely responsible for the beginning of the modern art movement, but perhaps it had a Very relevant role in this change.

Important artists such as Edvard Munch and Vincent Van Gogh they ended up understanding that realism was the role of photography and that the true role of the artist was to transcend the limits of reality. They said that art should go beyond what the photo could provide.

In 1920, André Breton complements the thoughts of Munch and Van Gogh, saying that The invention of photography broke the old patterns of expression and that, once an instrument now did what the artists intended, they could free themselves from the imitation of appearances.

With this, we realized the important role that the emergence of photography played in the history of art, including being one of catalysts of the modern art movement.

A New View of the World

In addition to the impact on the arts, photography provided other changes, especially in journalism And on the roof of wars.

Before photography, wars were also portrayed by artists and were subject to their interpretation and excesses. However, with the photos, the veracity of the facts became much more transparent and society began to see what was really happening on the battlegrounds.

The first photographer to cover a war was Roger Fenton, who was on the battlegrounds of Crimean War (1853-1856).

Due to the technology of the time, Fenton was able to portray only inert objects and landscapes, but she still returned home with about 300 photos, which she placed in a gallery.

Another photographer who portrayed the horrors of war was Mathew Brady.

Brady followed closely the American Civil War together with 20 assistants, in 1861. The success of his work guaranteed an exhibition in 1862 and recognition as one of the forerunners of photojournalism.

After that, photographers began to use photos and photojournalism to help Tell the stories behind the news and events.

It became increasingly common to send photographers to cover wars, conflicts, and other types of situations.

One of the most remarkable events for photojournalism was the Second world war, where photographers already had more advanced technology and were able to portray the battlegrounds and symbolic moments of the war.

The years from 1930 to 1970 marked the golden era of photojournalism. The advancement of technology has greatly helped photographers to portray news and events and to spread stories with photos that became famous all over the world.

Today's photography

There is no doubt that the photograph was and still is Very important for society. Whether for artistic appeal, journalism, entertainment, or even for creating and storing memories and memories.

Technology has advanced in such a way that it is practically impossible for a person not to have a camera handy at all times. Virtually every cell phone has its own built-in cameras.

However, this does not mean that photography has ceased to be seen as art. There are still several exhibitions, galleries, and museum spaces reserved only for the art of photography.

In addition, there was not only an advance in technology, but also in the techniques, processes, methods, and concepts that involve photography. That means that It's not enough to have a camera on your cell phone to consider yourself a photographer. There are several issues surrounding this profession and art that require a lot of study and practice.

What we are experiencing today is the result of all that history and of the events that marked the trajectory of photography during all those years. The impact of photography was not only on the arts or on journalism, but also on the whole social sphere in which we live today.