A Brief History On Photography

It may seem like an oversimplification to say that a camera is nothing but a box with lens at one end and a sensitive surface at the other, together with some means of controlling the latter's exposure to the light passed by the lens. Yet that has always been, and still is, the basis of a camera. In the early days of photography before the 1840’s cameras were simple, wooden, light-tight boxes having a lens and a slot or slide to take a sensitised plate. Exposures were made by removing and replacing a cap over the lens, and the camera had to be taken into the darkroom to be unloaded.

In the 1840’s slide holders were introduced and other improvements such as bellows or sliding boxes, one inside the other for focusing purposes, made cameras a little easier to use. Primitive shutters to control exposure timing, together with 'stops' consisting of brass strips punched with holes of various sizes to control depth of field, arrived soon after.

Many very fine photographs were taken with these cameras and examples can be found in several museums. Nevertheless, one almost needed the strength of an ox to carry all the equipment to a desired location and, since plates had to be developed
and coated on the spot, a portable darkroom was required. One of the most famous pioneers, Roger Fenton, had to convert a horse-drawn baker's van into a darkroom to take to the Crimean War in 1855; so one needed a deep pocket as well.

For sheer quality and artistry it would be hard to beat many of the pictures taken in the first thirty or forty years of photography, which goes to prove that it is the man (or woman!) behind the camera that counts. Modern cameras, even the modestly priced ones, are marvels of sophistication when compared with the early models, but the basic function is still the same.

By: Sean Jordan

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