Narrative: Little History of Photography

2^nd Version: History of photography - narrative

Boulevard du Temple, taken in 1839 by painter and chemist Louis Daguerre, is hanging on one of Louvre’s walls and is watching the tourists who pass by. Suddenly it notices a man in his 40s with shorts and a t-shirt who looks very dissatisfied with his camera. The photo can hear him moaning that the camera he bought does not take pictures satisfyingly. Boulevard du Temple laughs to itself and thinks of the time it was taken. The photo is sure that if this man could hear the story of photography, he would appreciate the tiny device he is holding in his hands.

The day the photo was taken was a very special one. Daguerre was the first photographer who managed to depict a person on a photo. Because of the long exposure time it was impossible to photograph moving objects such as passersby. Nevertheless, the man on the photo remained still long enough and so became part of this historic photo. However, it was not the first one that had been taken. In 1825 Joseph Niepce photographed Le Gras in France. Niepce’s idea was to apply bitumen to metal plates. The material hardened in the light and the unhardened rest was washed away. The metal plate was polished, the negative covered with ink and the photographed image would appear. Still, this early technique had its downsides. The plates were very heavy and expensive. Therefore, only rich people could afford being photographed. Secondly, exposure time was very long thus people being photographed needed something to lean on, namely props. This is why oval tables and pillars can often be seen on early photos. Long exposure would also lead to Mezzotint which means that photos have a soft black to grey to white gradation.

 A few years later, Daguerre invented his own technique, the daguerreotype, where the plate would be coated with silver, exposed and then the remaining silver would be removed. Time went by and photography became more popular. In 1840 almost every miniaturist had become a professional photographer because no one was interested in miniatures anymore.

The photo remembers all these events as though they were yesterday. The tourist in the museum should be grateful for all the people who worked on developing photography and cameras which led to what he is holding in his hands right now.

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Comment:
My fellow students had some very useful suggestions for my text. They pointed out that the introduction should be separated from the main text. They also felt that there was no connection between some sentences so I rewrote these parts.