The history of photography began with the discovery of two critical principles: camera obscura image projection, knowledge of which is thought to date from the 4th century BCE, and the observation that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light.

In the mid 1820’s, Nicéphore Niépce was the first person to fix an image that was captured with a camera, but it required an incredibly long exposure time (at least 8 hours) and the results were very rough. Niépce’s associate Louis Daguerre however went on to develop the Daguerreotype process, the first publicly announced and commercially viable photographic process, requiring only minutes of exposure and clear defined results.

Portraiture was the main driver for the early adoption of photography as an art form. Portrait painting was only available to aristocrats and the very wealthy. Photography changed all this, by offering an affordable alternative. It also liberated artists from the requirement to present the “photo” realistic view, as this could now be captured by the camera.

Consequently, photography fundamentally changed the face of art, leading to a revolution in the art genre and the arrival of movements such as cubism and surrealism.