43 Rare Photos That Reveal the Astonishing Secrets of Early Photography’s Dawn
An expedition from Washington University celebrated New Year’s Day in 1889 by photographing a total solar eclipse from Norman, California. The resulting image is actually a skillfully made composite, created by taking several pictures at varying exposures. By overlaying these different photographic plates, the team was able to capture the full, stunning detail of the sun’s corona in a single print.
In an era when long exposure times turned any moving object into a ghostly blur, capturing the sheer power of Niagara Falls was a monumental photographic challenge. This 1858 view from the Canadian side is a landmark image precisely because it was one of the first successful attempts to photograph such rapid, intense motion. The ability to freeze the cascading water, even partially, marked a significant technical step forward for the young art form.
In case you’re wondering, the term “camera obscura” means “dark chamber” in Latin. According to How Stuff Works, it refers to a device or optical phenomenon that artists, photographers and more have used for centuries to project an external image onto a surface within a darkened room or box.
“The camera obscura works on the principle of light rays traveling in straight lines. When light passes through a small hole or aperture in a darkened space, an inverted and reversed image of the scene outside forms on the opposite surface,” explains the site.
It was originally an entire room with small holes in one wall. Thankfully, it later evolved into portable cameras obscurae. “The camera obscura greatly influenced the development of photography,” adds the site. “It served as a precursor to the camera and provided valuable insights into the behavior of light.”
Taking a photograph underwater in the 19th century was an immense technical ordeal, first successfully accomplished by French biologist Louis Boutan in 1899. To achieve this, he not only had to design a bulky, custom-built waterproof housing for his camera, but he also had to invent the first underwater flash. This dangerous contraption involved an alcohol lamp and magnesium powder, creating a controlled explosion to illuminate the murky depths of the Mediterranean Sea long enough for the slow exposure.
This striking portrait of Dorothy Catherine Draper is not only the earliest surviving photograph of a woman, but it is also one of the oldest and clearest human portraits in existence. Taken by her brother, the scientist John William Draper, in either late 1839 or early 1840, the daguerreotype is a remarkable technical achievement for its time. To achieve such a well-defined image, Dorothy had to sit perfectly still for a 65-second exposure, her face powdered with flour to enhance the contrast.
Titled “Boston, as the Eagle and the Wild Goose See It,” this image holds the title of the world’s first successful aerial photograph. Taken in 1860 by photographer James Wallace Black from a hot-air balloon tethered 2,000 feet above the city, it provided a stunning and completely unprecedented bird’s-eye view of the Boston landscape.
In 1838, just over ten years after Niepce took the first ever photograph, Louis Daguerre blessed the world with the first photo of a human being. Unlike “View from the Window at Le Gras,” Daguerre managed to develop the photo within 4-5 minutes. “Boulevard du Temple” depicts a street view from a window during the morning. It captures buildings, trees, and a couple of people.
“It’s a crucial piece in the history of early photography and a testament to how far the technology had come just a decade after the first photo by Niépce,” notes photography site Capture.com.
French inventor Louis Ducos du Hauron was a crucial pioneer in the long quest for color photography, and this 1877 landscape is one of his earliest surviving works. Taken in his native region, the view of Agen, France, prominently features the Saint-Caprais Cathedral and provides a rare, almost painterly glimpse of the 19th-century world in color.
The journey of Japan’s earliest surviving photograph is as remarkable as the image itself. This 1857 daguerreotype portrait of Lord Shimazu Nariakira was so highly esteemed that it was treated as an object of worship after his passing. The precious image then vanished entirely, disappearing for a full century before its chance rediscovery in a warehouse in 1975.
On April 10, 1848, William Edward Kilburn captured this sprawling view of the Great Chartist Meeting on Kennington Common in London. The photograph is significant as it’s one of the earliest images of a large-scale political protest. The Chartist movement was a working-class campaign for political reform, and this photograph documents one of their most famous rallies, offering a rare visual record of a moment when thousands gathered to demand the right to vote.
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