Historical Photography

The development of photography began centuries ago, but did not accelerate until the latter half of the nineteenth century. It began with the camera obscura, invented over two thousand years ago, which was composed of a dark chamber with a hole in one side through which images were projected onto a wall. Artists experimented with the phenomenon over the years, leading to the development of the lens. However, it was not until the nineteenth century that inventors developed the ability to fix the image permanently to a surface, resulting in several new processes and formats. Fixed images were either negative or positive, with bright spaces appearing dark and dark spaces appearing light in negatives and the reverse being true of positives.

Exhibit and photos courtesy of the Enterprise Information Management Services, Office of the City Clerk