| Events In 500 B.C. |
| 500 B.C. |
Mo Ti (China) |
|
Creates first pinhole camera. |
| Events In 300 B.C. |
| 330 B.C. |
Aristotle (Greece) |
|
Observed a solar eclipse projected onto the ground as it shined through a small opening created by the leaves of a tree |
| Events In 1400's |
| 1490 |
Leonardo DaVinci (Italy) |
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Writes the earliest surviving description of a camera obscura. |
| Events In 1500's |
| 1550 |
Girolamo Cardano (Italy) |
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In his book, "De Subtilitate", mentions biconvex glass (i.e. curved on both sides, thickest in the middle) making the camera obscura image sharper. |
| 1568 |
Daniele Barbaro (Italy) |
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Wrote "la pratica della perpettiva", which describes adding a diaphragm to the lens of a camera obscura to control both the amount of light passing through a lens and the depth of field. |
| 1589 |
Giambattista dellaPorta (Italy) is published |
|
In this Renaissance-era best-seller, della Porta becomes the first to discuss the optical principals that were later used in the development of the SLR (Single Lens Reflex camera), as well as the telescope. |
| Events In 1600's |
| 1611 |
Johannes Kepler (Germany) |
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The famed astronomer designs a camera obscura made up of a collapsible tent - arguably creating the first portable camera. |
| 1614 |
Angelo Sala (Italy) |
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Records the darkening effects of silver nitrate when exposed to sunlight. |
| Events In 1700's |
| 1727 |
Professor J. Schulze |
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Professor J. Schulze mixes chalk, nitric acid, and silver in a flask; notices darkening on side of flask exposed to sunlight. This event becomes the accidental creation of the first photo-sensitive compound. |
| 1765 |
Joseph Nicephore Niépce (France) Born. |
|
Joseph, who loved lithography but couldn't draw, invented the process by which a projected image could be affixed to light sensitive material. By the age of 53, the major technical elements were present in his work: camera, biconvex lens, and diaphragm. He was able to produce a sharp negative onto silver chloride and make it permanent (i.e. it didn't fade immediately) enough to mail to his brother. |
| 1771 |
Thomas Wedgwood (England) Born |
|
His experiments proved that chemically transferring images of objects and pictures (as opposed to manually or mechanically doing so) with the aid of light, could be achieved. Wedgwood used nitrate of silver on white paper or leather. The only drawback was that the image was not permanent and faded to black if exposed to any further light. |
| 1787 |
Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (France) Born |
|
Building on Niépce's work, Daguerre was able to produce the first permanent positive image made from nature, thus creating the daguerrotype. |
| 1796 |
Aloys Senefeldr (Germany) |
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Invents lithography |
| Events In 1800's |
| 1800 |
Thomas Wedgwood |
|
The first image created using a chemical process and focused light is made by Thomas Wedgwood. The image is highly unstable and deteriorates rapidly. |
| 1807 |
William Hyde Wollaston (England) |
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Invents the "camera lucida." The device looks like a spy glass and peering through it combines the subject and the drawing surface in the same view. |
| 1815 |
Julia Margaret Cameron (England) Born |
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Known for her romantic portraits of prominent people of the Victorian Era. |
| 1821 |
Alexander Gardner (Scotland) Born |
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Emigrating to the US and settling in New York in 1856, Gardner becomes employed by famed photographer Matthew Brady, and becomes an expert in the then-new collodion (wet-plate) process. When the Civil War breaks out, Gardner is sent into the field and produces some of the first modern war photos. |
| 1822 |
Mathew Brady (USA) Born |
|
He and his staff (including Alexander Gardner) cover the American Civil War, exposing 7000 negative plates and revealing with new frankness the horrors of war. A major contributor to American History, he photographed, with one exception, every President of the United States from John Quincy Adams to William McKinley, the sixth to the twentyfifth Presidents. |
| 1824 |
First Permanent Image (France) |
|
While trying to create a lithographic image, Joseph Niépce made the first "permanent" image using light sensitive material and dubs the process heliography. The earliest surviving photograph, an image of a nearby rooftop, takes somewhere between 8 and 20 hours to expose. |
| 1831 |
James Clerk-Maxwell (Scotland) Born |
|
A Scottish physicist, he first demonstrated a color photography system involving three black and white photographs, each taken through a red, green, or blue filter. The photos were turned into lantern slides and projected in registration with the same color filters. This is the "color separation" method. |
| 1834 |
William Henry Fox Talbot (England) |
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Invents "salted paper print", a printing out process. |
| 1839 |
Daguerrotype Introduced |
|
The Daguerrotype is a positive only process allowing no reproduction of the picture developed with toxic mercury vapor. The daguerrotype brings about the creation of modern portrait photography. However, the extreme delicate nature of the image makes handling of daguerrotypes nearly impossible!
The first process for making permanent positive images from nature was publicly introduced in 1839. |
| 1839 |
Hertschel (France) |
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Invented method of sensitizing glass with silver halides and first glass plate negative. Coins the terms "photography", "negative" and "positive". |
| 1843 |
Ann Cooke (England) |
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First woman to open a photographic portrait studio. |
| 1849 |
Jacob Riis (Denmark) Born |
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Riis pioneers photojournalism using images of slums and tenements in New York to effect social change. |
| 1850 |
Jane Wigley (England) |
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First to use a prism inserted into the camera to reverse the inverted Daguerreotype. (precursor of the TTL viewfinder.) |
| 1851 |
Collodion (wetplate) process introduced |
|
A great leap beyond the Daguerrotype and calotype, the collodion process delivers fine details and allows for the production of multiple prints. The collodian process becomes the premiere photographic method during the U.S. Civil War. |
| 1854 |
George Eastman Born (USA) |
|
Developed dry plates, film with flexible backing, roll holders for the flexible film. Goes on to found Eastman Kodak, which will become the most prolific producer of photographic materials in the world. |
| 1855 |
Stereoscopic Era |
|
The beginning of stereoscopic era, providing affordable home entertainment to the masses with unique 3-D images. The stereoscopic era unofficially ends at about the beginning of the 20th century. |
| 1855 |
Direct Positive Images |
|
Direct positive images on glass (ambrotypes) and metal (tintypes or ferrotypes) become popular in the U.S. Surviving direct positives are today seen as sought-after relics of a bygone era. |
| 1856 |
Eugene Atget (France) Born |
|
Is born an orphan and by 1914 is gaining recognition in Paris as an acclaimed Art Photographer, photographing the city of Paris and its inhabitants. By the time of his death in 1927, he had left 2000 8x10 glass plate negatives, and over 10,000 prints. |
| 1862 |
Paul Sabatier (France) |
|
Describes Solarization in French journal. He is later given credit for the process but it was Blanchere who first published his observations of the effect in 1859. |
| 1863 |
Julia Margaret Cameron |
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This accomplished and renowned British Photographer receives her first camera. |
| 1864 |
Alfred Stieglitz (United States) |
|
Alfred Stieglitz is born. With his gallery "An American Place" in New York, he transforms photography from a mechanical process to an art form on par with painting & sculpting.. (d. 1946) |
| 1871 |
Richard Leach Maddox (England) |
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Invents gelatin dry plate silver bromide process, allows for development of exposed negatives at a later time. This innovation frees photographers from having to develop wet plates onsite. |
| 1874 |
Lewis Hine (USA) Born |
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Photographer for social reform, he documented Ellis Island immigrants, the slums of NYC and was an advocate for child labor laws. Hired by US National Child Labor Committee in 1909 to photograph children working in the coal mines. |
| 1877 |
Edward Muybridge |
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Edward creates his groundbreaking "The Horse In Motion" series of sequential photographs, pioneering research into the study of motion. Edward went on to invent the Zoopraxiscope, a precursor of the modern movie projector. |
| 1879 |
Ilford (UK) |
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Ilford begins manufacturing photographic materials. |
| 1879 |
Edward Steichen (USA) Born |
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A notable photographer in his own right, Steichen was the first curator of photographs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he curated the famous "Family of Man" exhibition in 1953. |
| 1880 |
Kodak (USA) |
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Founded by George Eastman, introduces the first camera to the general populace. |
| 1886 |
Edward Weston (USA) Born |
|
When he was sixteen years old, his father gave him a Kodak Bulls-Eye #2 camera and he began to photograph at his aunt's farm and in Chicago parks. Weston's work was about what lies beyond the subject and its form. Weston is for using photography as a transformative process of reducing the subject to its fundamental structure, uniting rational thought and subjective feeling. For Weston, "the thing itself" was not the recording of what was in front of the camera, it was the thing's essence. |
| 1888 |
George Eastman (USA) |
|
Kodak Roll film camera patented by George Eastman. |
| 1888 |
The Royal Geographic Society |
|
First published National Geographic in the United States. It becomes the definitive picture narrative of landscapes, geography, and anthropology. |
| 1888 |
George Eastman |
|
George Eastman, at age 24, sets up Eastman Dry Plate Company in Rochester, New York. His company produces the first half-tone photograph to appear in a daily newspaper, New York Graphic. |
| 1888 |
Celluloid film invented |
|
This becomes the forerunner of all modern photographic and motion picture film. The lightweight material, although flammable, makes glass plates obsolete and allows photography to branch out to the general public. |
| 1889 |
Hannah Hoch (Germany) Born |
|
The only woman in the Berlin DADA group, working exclusively on Photo-Montage |
| 1890 |
Photography School |
|
The first schools dedicated to teaching the techniques of photography and retouching open. Only those who could afford the tuition and the time away from their household duties could attend. |
| 1890 |
Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitsky) (USA) Born |
|
Born in Pennsylvania, Man Ray expanded the accepted limits of photography by using then experimental methods of photography including the pictograph and solarization. |
| 1891 |
Rodinal |
|
Rodinal fine grain developer is introduced by Agfa. It is still valued today for it's ease of use and high quality results. |
| 1893 |
Roy Stryker (USA) Born |
|
Roy Stryker was hired by the Farm Security Administration in 1935 to run the historical section. Stryker would hire Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein, et al. to photograph rural hardships over the next six years. Stryker appointed photographer Arthur Rothstein to draft technical and aesthetic guidelines for the photographic campaigns of the Historical Section. Stryker then hires photographers Carl Mydans (up to the summer of 1936 Walker Evans (up to September 1937) and Dorothea Lange (with interruptions up to 1942). |
| Events In 1900's |
| 1900 |
Brownie |
|
Kodak introduces the Brownie, a low cost and extremely simple camera which brings photography to the masses. It enables anyone to become a photographer, and goes on to be one of the most popular consumer cameras of the 20th century. |
| 1902 |
Ansel Adams (USA) Born |
|
Ansel Adams is born in San Francisco. Noted for his development of the Zone System, a highly precise method of exposing, developing, and printing B&W images. His epic photographs of the American West - most especially Yosemite National Park - come to symbolize the sheer enormity and beauty of America to people the world over. |
| 1902 |
Leni Riefenstahl (Germany) Born |
|
Known by many as the "Mother of the Documentary" her photographer and cinematography work is also hailed as the hallmark of propaganda filmmaking. Controversy swirls about her name even to this day. Was she a Nazi sympathizer or a documentary and art filmmaker? She claims to have been making art, but she also tells in her book "Hinter den Kulissen des ReichsparteitagFilms" how she helped plan the 1934 Nazi Party convention in Nuremburg with the purpose in mind of making a more effective film. Perhaps the most enduring contribution she has made to photography is the way her work fosters the ongoing discussion on the interconnectivity between art and society and therefore art and politics. |
| 1906 |
Lee Miller (USA) Born |
|
One of the first Staff Photographers for Time and Life, and in 1942 becomes the first official Photographer to the US Army Air Corps where she covered both WWII and the Korean War. She is also the first woman to fly on a bombing mission, which occurred over North Africa. |
| 1907 |
Margaret Bourke-White (USA) |
|
Discoverer of solarization effect. At the age of 22, she moved to Europe to assist and model for Man Ray. During that time, she accidentally stumbled onto the 'Solarization effect' that Man Ray was to use so effectively. She was later commissioned by the U.S. Army to photograph concentration camps, and also shot for Vogue. |
| 1907 |
Autochrome plate |
|
Autochrome plate, the first commercial color film, introduced by the Lumiere brothers in France. The method involved creating an emulsion suspended within a mosaic of potato starch granules and lamp black. Autochromes that have survived in good condition are noted for their startlingly faithful representations of color and detail. |
| 1908 |
Henri Cartier-Bresson (France) Born |
|
Regarded as one of the greatest photographers of his time, Henri Cartier-Bresson was a shy Frenchman who elevated "snap shooting" to the level of a refined and disciplined art. His sharp-shooter's ability to catch "the decisive moment," his precise eye for design, his self-effacing methods of work, and his literate comments about the theory and practice of photography made him a legendary figure among contemporary photojournalists. |
| 1913 |
Leica established |
|
Leica introduces 35mm photography. The first commercial camera, the Leica I, hits the market in 1924. |
| 1913 |
Robert Capa (Hungary) born |
|
One of the pioneers of modern-day political and war photography, Capa wins worldwide fame for his photograph of a soldier frozen at the moment of death while being shot during The Spanish Civil War. His few surviving frames of Omaha Beach become the quintessential images of D-Day. Capa goes on to help found the Magnum Photo Agency in 1947. Dies by stepping on a landmine in Indochina in 1954. |
| 1923 |
Diane Arbus (USA) |
|
Studies photography under Lisette Model, becomes a well known Photographer specializing in Documentary Portraits in New York City, exhibits at Museum of Modern Art New York, later goes on to teach at Parsons, Cooper Union, and RISD. She is known for going where few other photographers would go at the time, to document the fringes of American society. Dies by her own hand in 1971. |
| 1923 |
Richard Avedon (USA) Born |
|
Richard Avedon is born. He becomes perhaps the most prominent and wellrespected American photographer of the second half of the 20th Century. |
| 1931 |
Strobe Photography |
|
Development of strobe photography by Harold ("Doc") Edgerton at MIT. This eventually leads
to the modern photographic flash superceding the disposable flashbulb. |
| 1932 |
Photoelectric cell |
|
First light meter with photoelectric cell introduced. |
| 1932 |
Group f/64 founded |
|
American pioneers Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Willard Van Dyke, John Paul Edwards, and Imogen Cunningham found GROUP f/64. They took the name from their preferred aperture setting, the smallest of the time. The organization continues until 1935 but its philosophy and aesthetic continues in what is known as the West Coast School. |
| 1935 |
Farm Security Administration |
|
Farm Security Administration Founded (known as the Resettlement Administration until 1937) One of the FSA's tasks, assigned to the Historic Section, was photographic and sociological documentation of the work of the RA providing pictorial information on rural and small-town living conditions. |
| 1935 |
Kodachrome |
|
Kodak introduces Kodachrome, the first color positive transparency film, which also leads to home color motion picture film. Kodachrome becomes the premiere color slide film until the 1990s. |
| 1935 |
WPA (Works Progress Administration) |
|
WPA is created by Roosevelt Administration. Notable Photographers from the era are Dorothea Lange (1895 - 1965) and Walker Evans (USA) (1903 -1975)(USA) |
| 1936 |
Life |
|
Life magazine is first published. It goes on to become perhaps the most significant image-oriented publication of the 20th century. |
| 1937 |
Lisette Model |
|
Lisette Model-begins her Photographic venture leading her to an exhibit in New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1940. Worked for Hapers Bazaar 1941-53 and also taught Photography in NYC from 1951-82;one of her students being Diane Arbus. |
| 1942 |
Kodak |
|
Kodak introduced Kodacolor, the first color negative film, enabling color prints to be made. |
| 1943 |
Russian Galina Sankova |
|
Russian Galina Sankova-photojournalist and documentarian, photographs Russian children in German concentration camps, during WWII, in a body of work entitled "On the Trail of Horror". One of the most predominant Russian Female Photographers of her time. |
| 1947 |
Freestyle |
|
Freestyle is founded by Sam Fatman and Irving Resch in New York selling surplus military film supplies. After a move to Los Angeles, Freestyle continues to this day to offer a complete line of high value products with the creative professional and educator in mind. |
| 1947 |
Magnum Photos |
|
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, and David Seymour start the photographer-owned Magnum picture agency. |
| 1948 |
Edwin Land (USA) |
|
Dr. Edwin Land introduces the Polaroid camera to the photo market. |
| 1954 |
Minor White |
|
Minor White first publishes magazine Aperture. |
| 1954 |
Tri-x |
|
Kodak introduces "Tri-x", as the first high speed B&W film. It is still preferred today for its flexibility, ease of use and classic look. |
| 1954 |
Cindy Sherman(USA) |
|
Was born. Rises to prominence with her "Untitled Film Stills". |
| 1955 |
"Family of Man" |
|
"Family of Man" exhibition is organized by Edward Steichen(USA). It was the first major retrospective of photographs and elevated the medium to art. |
| 1959 |
Nikon |
|
Nikon introduces the Nikon F, the first true SLR system camera. The F-series continues to set the standard for SLR photography to this day. |
| 1963 |
Instant Film |
|
First color instant film developed by Polaroid |
| 1972 |
110-format film |
|
110-format film and cameras introduced by Kodak with a 13x17mm frame. The format remains popular until the 1980s, when it falls out of favor. |
| 1973 |
C-41 |
|
C-41 color negative process introduced, replacing C-22 |
| 1973 |
One-step |
|
Instant photography first sold by Polaroid as the SX-70 |
| 1975 |
E-6 Slide Processing |
|
Modern E-6 slide processing is introduced. |
| 1981 |
Ansel Adams |
|
Ansel Adams purchases his first package of Oriental B&W Paper from Freestyle. We later go on to introduce this well-regarded paper to America. Freestyle continues to offer unique, high value products for the creative photographer. |
| 1984 |
Canon |
|
Demonstrates first digital still camera, opening the door to an entirely new age of photography. |
| 1985 |
Minolta |
|
Minolta markets the world's first autofocus SLR system (called "Maxxum" in the US) |
| 1986 |
Arista |
|
Arista line of Paper and Film are introduced by Freestyle as a value leader in the B&W market. |
| 1990 |
Adobe Photoshop Released |
|
The first version of Adobe Photoshop is released, giving birth to the digital darkroom. |
| 1992 |
PhotoCD |
|
Kodak introduces PhotoCD |
| Events In 2000's |
| 2002 |
Arista.EDU |
|
Arista.EDU is introduced by Freestyle as a low price, high quality line of B&W films and papers with the educator in mind. |
| 2005 |
Arista.EDU Ultra and Arista II |
|
Arista.EDU Ultra and Arista II is released. |
| 2005 |
Agfa |
|
Longtime German giant AGFA goes out of business. |
| 2006 |
Varycon, Slavich |
|
Freestyle introduces American audiences to Varycon and Slavich B&W paper, from Croatia and Russia, respectively. |
| 2007 |
Forte |
|
Hungarian paper & film manufacturer goes out of business. |
