How to be a Retronaut » Daguerreotype http://www.howtobearetronaut.com If the past is a foreign country, this is your passport Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:01:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 The first photograph of a human… http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/04/the-first-ever-photograph-of-a-human/ http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/04/the-first-ever-photograph-of-a-human/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 08:01:15 +0000 The Retronaut http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/?p=3103

“Boulevard du Temple“, taken by Daguerre in late 1838 or early 1839 in Paris, was the first photograph of a person. The image shows a street, but [...]]]>

“Boulevard du Temple“, taken by Daguerre in late 1838 or early 1839 in Paris, was the first photograph of a person. The image shows a street, but because exposure time was over ten minutes, the traffic was moving too much to appear. The exception is the man at the bottom left, who stood still getting his boots polished long enough to show.”
- Wikipedia

Click to open the picture, then click the symbol in the upper right icon to see the full resolution image.
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Thank you to John Pollock.

]]> http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/04/the-first-ever-photograph-of-a-human/feed/ 16 Can you date this picture? http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/01/can-you-date-this-picture-6/ http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/01/can-you-date-this-picture-6/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:15:44 +0000 The Retronaut http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/?p=116 This is Robert Cornelius, aged 30, standing in the autumn sun outside his father’s family store on 8th street, Philadelphia. This is one of the first pictures [...]]]>
This is Robert Cornelius, aged 30, standing in the autumn sun outside his father’s family store on 8th street, Philadelphia. This is one of the first pictures he took – its a self portrait.

Answer (highlight to read):

175 years old.

On the back of the image is the inscription “The first ever light picture, 1839″. It is the earliest known self-portrait. Cornelius opened a photographic studio, but closed it after a few years, focusing on his father’s business.

Cornelius died in 1893, aged 84. The original picture is in the collection of the American Philosophical Society

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