In this episode of 'It Started Somewhere,' host Shaimond, explores the fascinating journey of photography from its inception to current advancements. Starting with Nicéphore Niépce's first permanent photograph in 1826, the episode traces key developments such as Louis Daguerre's daguerreotype, William Henry Talbot's calotype, and Frederick Scott Archer's wet plate collodion process. It highlights George Eastman's influential Kodak company and innovations like Kodachrome and instant photography by Polaroid. The episode concludes with the dramatic shift brought by the digital age and the integration of photography into smartphones, showcasing how the medium continues to revolutionize visual storytelling and memory preservation.

Contact me at itstartedsomewhere@gmail.com

We take it for granted now, but a few generations

2

ago, photographs were uncommon.

3

And a few generations before

that, they didn't even exist.

4

Imagine the only way we could visually

remember a past event or a loved one

5

who passed on was from our memory.

6

Now we take pictures whenever we want to,

with the phones we have in our pockets.

7

My name is Shaimond, and you're

listening to It Started Somewhere,

8

a podcast about popular products,

places, and things we know about, but

9

may not know the story behind them.

10

Today we'll explore the evolution

of photography, from its humble

11

beginnings to the present day

innovations that are shaping the

12

future of the medium as we know it.

13

In 1826, after days of exposure,

a French inventor named Nicéphore

14

Niépce changed the world by creating

the first permanent photograph.

15

This heliograph, as he called it,

laid the foundations for photography,

16

which through many innovations will

go on to shape how we capture society.

17

However, taking days of exposure time

for a photograph to be ready wasn't

18

ideal, and these early photographs

were blurry and difficult to make out.

19

But let's rewind a bit.

20

The concept of the camera wasn't new.

21

In fact, the camera obscura had

been known since ancient times.

22

It was a simple device.

23

A dark room with a small hole

that projected an inverted

24

image onto a surface.

25

Artists use it as a drawing

aid, but fixing that image

26

permanently was impossible.

27

Fast forward to 1839, Louis

Daguerre developed the daguerreotype

28

process that reduced exposure

time from days to minutes.

29

The detailed mirror-like images

he produced were on silver-plated

30

copper, and took the world by storm.

31

For the first time, people could have

realistic portraits of their loved ones.

32

This was great.

33

However, each daguerreotype

type was unique.

34

You couldn't make copies.

35

Enter william Henry Talbot and

36

This negative positive system

laid the groundwork for modern

37

photography, allowing multiple

prints from a single negative.

38

Photography development system is a

process in traditional photography

39

that involves creating a negative

image first, which then is used

40

to produce positive prints.

41

The next decades saw a

flurry of inventions.

42

In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer introduce

the wet plate collodion process.

43

Cutting exposure time to mere seconds.

44

But photographers still had to

lug around portable dark rooms to

45

develop their plates on the spot.

46

Relief came in 1870 with

Richard Maddox dry plates.

47

Now photographers could prepare

their plates in advance.

48

But the real revolution came in

49

flexible paper based film.

50

This was the birth of Kodak, a name

that would become synonymous with

51

photography for over a century.

52

In 1900, Kodak introduced the Brownie

camera, which sold for a dollar.

53

While that wasn't cheap at the time,

it was attainable to the middle

54

class and over 100, 000 of them

were purchased the first year alone.

55

Suddenly, almost anyone

could be a photographer.

56

"You press the button, we do

the rest," was Kodak's slogan,

57

and it changed everything.

58

For decades, photography

was black and white.

59

But in 1935 Kodak introduced Kodachrome

bringing color pintroduced hotos

60

to the masses, and photographs

would never look the same again.

61

In 1948, Edward Lands,

Polaroid camera hit the market.

62

Now you could develop photos instantly.

63

It was magic in a box, and it captured

the public's imagination for decades.

64

The digital revolution was

another huge step in photography.

65

And in December 1975, Stephen

Sasson, an electrical engineer at

66

Eastman Kodak, invented the first

self contained digital camera.

67

It weighed 8 pounds, recorded black

and white images to a cassette

68

tape, had a resolution of 0.

69

01 megapixels, or 10, 000 pixels and took

23 seconds to capture its first image.

70

It was a prototype camera that

was a technical exercise and

71

not intended for production.

72

In 1981, Sony demonstrated the first

Filmless, SLR camera, the Mavica.

73

The first widely commercially available

digital camera was released in

74

1990 and it was the Dycam Model 1.

75

In 1992, the JPEG image

standard was introduced, which

76

greatly reduced file sizes.

77

The first commercial camera phone was

the Kyocera Visual Phone VP-210, which

78

was released in Japan in May 1999.

79

Now we all carry high quality

cameras in our pockets.

80

Our phones use computational photography

and AI to produce images that will

81

be impossible just a few years ago.

82

Virtual and augmented reality are

pushing the boundaries even further.

83

From Niépce's heliograph to

today's smartphones, photography

84

has come an incredibly long way.

85

It's transformed how we see the

world, how we remember our lives,

86

and how we share our experiences.

87

As we look to the future, one thing

is clear, the art and science of

88

capturing light will continue to

evolve, surprising and delighting

89

us in ways we can't imagine.

90

Thanks for joining me today.

91

And I'll catch you on the next

episode of It started somewhere.