Lisa Frist, Thayne Branch Library

National Camera Day is observed annually on June 29 in order to honor one of the most  monumental inventions in history: the camera. Since its inception, the camera has offered the  opportunity to capture everything from important historical moments to recording the images  of cherished family members.

The camera has a very long history. In 1604 the term “camera obscura” was first used for a device  that projected an image. A camera obscura is the natural phenomenon in which light passing through  the small hole of a box will project an image of a scene outside the box onto the surface opposite to the  hole, resulting in an inverted and reversed projection of the view outside.

Although the term, “camera obscura” was first coined in 1604, there is much evidence that other  similar effects of the camera obscura were possibly used as far back in human history as  prehistoric times. There are theories that camera obscura inspired paleolithic cave paintings.  Distortions in the shapes of animals in many paleolithic cave artworks might be inspired by simple  camera obscura effects of a tiny hole in a tent or an animal skin.

There were many other notable personages that investigated the workings of the camera  obscura. One in particular was Leonardo Da Vinci who was clearly very interested in the camera  obscura. Over the years he drew approximately 270 diagrams of the camera obscura in his  notebooks.

The Dutch Masters, in particular Johannes Vermeer, were suspected of using the camera obscura  for his indoor pictorial scenes

The first photograph was made in 1862 by Nicephore Niepce who captured the first permanent  photograph using heligraphy. It took hours of exposure to produce, but changed history forever.

In 1839 Louis Daguerre created the daguerreotype. The clearer image and shorter exposure time  meant ordinary people could make photos.

Mathew Brady, an American photographer in the 1860’s was most noted for his documentation  of the American Civil War. For the first time people could see real battle photos, and the  aftermath of such battlefield devastation. Brady was known as Lincoln’s Camera Man because  he also took many photos of President Lincoln.

George Eastman brought the Kodak Revolution in 1888 with his Kodak roll-film camera.

Polaroid introduced instant cameras in 1948 and the first digital camera was built by Steve Sasson  in 1975.   Check out: The Complete Guide to Digital Photography 775 Freeman