Creative, commercial photographers.

First ever photograph receives exposure

August 15, 2010

Scientists will be turning the spotlight on the groundbreaking work of a Frenchman who is regarded as the ‘original photographer’ with the release of previously unseen research later on in the year.

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, an amateur scientist, took the oldest surviving photograph in 1826. The groundwork for this was laid down by him over ten years earlier, during experiments involving copying several drawings using light and etching processes.

The scientist is regarded to have been a major contributor to the work of Louis Daguerre who along with William Henry Fox Talbot, a British inventor, is regarded as a founding father of modern photographic techniques, and both published papers on the subject in 1839.

Getty Conservation Institute scientists will be putting the results of their scientific analysis on show at Bradford’s National Media Museum from 13 – 14 October. It is hoped that many curious creative photographers from Yorkshire’s boundaries and beyond will show their support for the unique event.

The focus will be on several photographic plates transported to England by Niépce in 1827. They have promised that they will be able to examine their history more thoroughly than ever before.

Dusan Stulik, senior scientist within the Getty Conservation Institute, said:

“Through scientific means we are able to see into the darkroom procedures which Niépce was using and we are trying to understand why he selected different photographic processes.

‘What makes the work of Niépce really special is that he was the first photographer. What makes me very excited about this whole experience is that everything we do today is a product of that first photograph.”