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Wedgwood and Davy
Thomas Wedgwood and Humphrey Davy were two individuals who stayed up-to-date with scientific innovations in the 1800's. They teamed up together to experiment with light sensitive materials and the camera obscura. They found that because the silver nitrate used in these camera's continued to react, the image was not permanent and pursued this. Eventually Wedgwood became ill and Davy moved on to other scientific explorations. -
Slave Trade Act
This was an act of British Parliament that prohibited slave trade in the British Empire but did not abolish it. Many supporters of this act hoped this would encourage the end of slavery completely. It was not until 1833 when slavery was made officially illegal with the Slavery Abolition Act. -
Battle of Waterloo
This battle was fought between the French army, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, and the British led army allied with the Prussian army. It took place in what was then Belgium and the United Kingdom.
Napolean's army was eventually defeated and this battle signified the end of the Napoleonic Wars. -
The Bourbon Restoration
This was a time period that took place after the fall of Napoleon in 1815 and lasted until July of 1830. Louis XVI brother's came to power and led France as a constitutional monarchy, which is when a king or queen holds power but laws can limit their amount of power. -
Stethoscope is Invented
French physician, René Laennec, invented the stethoscope to diagnose chest conditions. Pictures is one of the original stethoscopes used. It originally was a single hollow tube, the later model that we know now was not made until the 1850's. -
Joseph Niépce and Heliography
Niépce (1765-1833) worked with the camera obscura which he produced a negative image from, but was unable to figure out how to switch the tones from negative tones to positive tones. Later he worked to copy engravings using the action of light and created the "direct positive image,"which did not produce a separate negative. Later, around 1822, Niépce called this process heliography.
Pictured is "View from the Window at Le Gras" taken around 1826. -
Louis Philippe Appointed King
Louis Philippe fled the country after the execution of his cousin. He spent 21 years in exile, but made his way back during the Bourbon Restoration (1815). Eventually, Philippe was named "Citizen King" of France from 1830-1848. -
William Henry Fox Talbot
Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) had been experimenting with photography as early as 1833. He discovered a method of sensitizing paper and that table salt was the way to get the images to stop developing. This process was called "salt print" which Talbot referred to as "photogenic drawings." Today images like these are called shadowgraphs or photograms. -
Queen Victoria Takes the Throne
Victoria took the throne in June of 1837 and ruled until her death in 1876. Queen Victoria was an active supporter in photography and the arts and even had specially built royal dark room for her and her husband, Prince Albert. She gave work to Roger Fenton, who eventually covered the Crimean War and was a key role in founding the Photographic Society of London (Royal Photographic Society). -
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre
Photography was presented to the world by Daquerre in 1839 with the daguerreotype. Although many people had been experimenting with photography before this point he was the first one to present it. The daguerreotype image was on a mirror-like surface that was treated with fumes and exposure time was a few minutes long. Pictured is a daguerreotype of Louis Daguerre. -
Self-Portrait of a Drowned Man
After society neglected to recognize Hippolyte Bayard's work in photographic processes, he created an image that showed "his" death by suicide in attempt to gain honor and recognition in his field. -
The Stereograph
The stereograph was a cost friendly option that came about in the 1840's, these helped turn photography into an industry during this time. The stereographic camera produced two images, one as if you're looking through your right eye, and one as if you're looking through your left. Once taken, these images could then be combined into one picture to give the illusion of more depth in the picture. -
Invention of the Calotype
After years of studying and improving photographic processes, Talbot patents a process that he called "calotype." This process created a negative image which made it possible to create multiple positive prints. -
Herschel's Cyanotype
John Herschel was a scientist who became fascinated with photographic processes and had a deeper understanding of them because of his experience with chemical processes. Herschel experimented with different dyes and used iron salts to create a process called "cyanotype." This process produced a picture with blue and white tones. Cyanotype's were simple and low cost and became successful commercially. -
Anna Atkins
Anna Atkins was a botanist who produced the first photographic illustration book called, "British Algae: Cyanotype impressions." -
Hill and Adamson
Painter, David Hill, and engineer, Robert Adamson worked together to create a different version of the calotype picture. Hill originally turned to Adamson for support on a project that commemorated the Great Disruption of 1843. Hill and Adamson composed softer pictures often using shadows and posing sitters so that the light reflected just the right way to suppress fine details. They called this technique, chiaroscuro. -
Wet Collodion Process
This process was developed by Frederick Scott Archer and became very popular among photographers because it was patent free. Glass plates were coated with a sticky substance called collodion. The plates needed to be developed quickly after exposure and exposure sometimes required a few minutes. Pictured is a portable dark room since plates needed to be developed quickly. -
Royal Photographic Society Founded
This society was founded in London in 1853 and promoted the art and science of photography. This is one of the world's oldest photographic society's brought to life by Roger Fenton. He was the society's first secretary and held that position for 3 years. -
Crimean War
The Crimean War started in 1853 when Russia wanted to expand into Turkish territory. In 1854 France and Britain got involved in fear of Russian expansion. It was fought on the Crimean peninsula and eventually Russia was forced to withdraw. -
Ambrotype by James Ambrose Cutting
This technique was also called a collodion positive and was made by James Ambrose Cutting. It produced a negative image but when a dark background was placed behind it, it showed a positive image. These images were usually kept in folding cases or frames. Unlike the daguerreotype this image was inexpensive to make. Pictured is a framed ambrotype photo. -
Use of the Tintype
These prints were developed on thin sheets of iron and very popular during the American Civil War. They were cheap and quick to make and were also light to carry, which made them convenient for soldiers to carry around so they had photos of their families and vice versa. -
Franco-Prussian War
This war is often referred to as the War of 1870 and was between France and Prussia over the countries borders. France eventually declared war, but because of Prussia's organized army and large numbers they won. This resulted in France giving Prussia regions of the country that were previously under French rule. -
Dry Plates
This was invented by Richard Maddox in 1871 who used gelatin to coat the photography plates instead of collodian. This made photography much faster and easier. These plates did not need to be prepared or processed within a certain amount of time. This meant that more photos could be taken and stored to be developed later. James Lawrence Breese said "the photographic artist has a wider range at the present time than ever before... so rapid to its action..." -
Belle Époque
French for "beautiful era," this was the time after the Franco-Prussian war to the outbreak of World War I that lasted about 40 years. It was a time of optimism, peace, prosperity, technological innovations, and flourishing arts. -
Invention of the Light Switch
The quick break light switch was invented by John Henry Holmes, and English electrical engineer, in 1884 after being inspired by Joseph Swan's incandescent light bulb. -
Kodak Camera
"You press the button, we do the rest." This turning point in photography was invented by George Eastman in 1888. This camera was user friendly and was intended for middle class users. This camera contained film that had a hundred exposures and when you needed it developed the company would do it for you and send your prints back. -
Autochrome Process
This was a process that made it possible to develop colored photographs. This was invented by brothers, Louis and Auguste Lumière. This was made possible by dyed potato starch granules that served as color filters when looking through the autochrome slide with light passing through it.
