World Photography Day, 19th August, Themes, History, Most Unknown Facts

World Photography Day: World Photography Day is celebrated on August 19 each year. The aim of World Photography Day is to create awareness, share ideas and encourage people to take up photography. The annual celebration pays tribute to the art of photography and also encourages those who are passionate about it to come together and share their work. It also serves as a motivating day for enthusiasts to pursue photography as a career. World Photography Day 2023 will be celebrated worldwide on 19th August.

World Photography Day History

The inception of World Photography Day dates back to 1837 when Frenchmen Joseph Nicephore Niepce and Louis Daguerre invented the ‘daguerreotype’ which was the world’s first-ever photographic process. Two years later on January 9, 1939, the daguerreotype was officially endorsed by the French Academy of Sciences. Seven months later on August 19, 1839, the French government is believed to have purchased the patent for the device. They declared the invention of the daguerreotype as a gift to the world making it freely available to all and the day began to be marked as World Photography Day later on.

Unlike modern-day photographs, daguerreotypes were cast onto solid metal plates. It was the first commercially successful photography system. For many photographers, it was the turning point and the subsequent creation of many types of photography.

The first World Photography Day took place on August 19, 2010. A curated online photograph gallery launched the event. The gallery showcased the works of 250 photographers, and viewing hits came from over 100 countries.

The Daguerreotype process

The kind of photography we know today dates back to 1839. At that time, the French Academy of Sciences announced the Daguerreotype process. The process made it possible to create a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper. The sheet was coated with a thin coat of silver, and the process did not require the use of a negative. It became the first method for obtaining a permanent image with a camera.

Over 40 years later in 1884, George Eastman from Rochester, NY refined the Daguerreotype process. He replaced the copper plate with a dry gel on paper, which he called film. This invention alleviated the need for photographers to carry around heavy copper plates and toxic chemicals. In 1888, Eastman developed the Kodak camera. The inventional allowed virtually anyone to take a photo.

With the explosion of digital photography, many people no longer use film in their cameras. However, some photographers would rather use film than digital photography. Some of the reasons they prefer film include:

• Higher resolution
• No electricity required
• Fewer copyright issues
• Easier to lose a digital photo than one on film

World Photography Day Quotes

• “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know.”
• “Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph. Happy World Photography Day”
• When words become unclear, I will focus on photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. Happy World Photography Day
• “Indulging in Photography is like having a love affair with life.” “In images, there is a truth so delicate that it turns into greater reality than reality.”
• “Photography, for me, is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures. Happy World Photography Day”
• “There is one component the photo needs to contain, the humanity of the moment.”
• “Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever. It reminds little things, long after you have forgotten everything. Happy World Photography Day”

Most Unknown Facts on Photography

1 – The Largest Camera Collection Consists of 4,425 Cameras : Dilish Parekh, a photojournalist from Mumbai, has the largest camera collection. He owns 4,425 antique cameras.

2 – The First Photo of a Person Was Accidental : In 1828, Louis Daguerre took the first photo that captured a human being. His intention was to take a photo of the Boulevard du Temple in Paris. The man in his photo was standing in the street, getting his shoes polished. Since the exposure lasted for seven minutes, the man also got captured.

3 – The First Digital Camera was Invented in 1975: In 1975, Steven Sasson invented the world’s first digital camera. He was working at Eastman Kodak at the time.

4 – The First Digital Camera Weighed 4x More Than a Modern DSLR: Steven’s camera weighed around 8 pounds (3.6kg) and shot only 0.01MP. The average weight of a modern DSLR is around 2 pounds.

5 – How Many Photographs are Taken Every Day? There is no number for how many photos are taken a day. But, estimates suggest that more than 1 trillion photos are taken in a year. On average, 95 million photos are uploaded daily on Instagram. Over 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day.

6 – The First Color Photograph Was Taken in 1861: In 1861, Thomas Sutton suggested the process to create the world’s first color image. The result of layering three separate images of red, green, and blue filters. These were then projected onto a photosensitive plate with the corresponding filters.

Sutton was a great photographer and inventor. Around the same time as the color photograph, he also created the first SLR camera.

He was also the one who developed the earliest panoramic camera with a wide-angle lens in 1859. The photography world owes a lot to him.

7 – The World’s Most Expensive Photograph Sold for $4.3 Million: In 1999, Andreas Gursky captured the world’s most expensive photo, Rhein II. In 2011, 12 years later, it sold for an incredible $4,338,500 at auction.

It is still the most expensive photo. Peter Lik boasts of having sold a picture for over $7 Million, but there is no proof, as the buyer wanted to remain anonymous.

8 – Kodak Doesn’t Mean Anything: Most brands have a strong connection between their product and their name. For example, Canon means a rule, law or principle. Ilford takes its name from its birthplace, and Olympus is the home of the Greek Gods.

But, Kodak has no real meaning.

George Eastman, the founder of Kodak, said that the letter ‘K’ sounded strong, so he formed a word around it.

9 – The First Aerial Photographs no Longer Exist: French inventor Gaspard-Félix Tournachon captured the first aerial image in 1858. Nadar, as he was otherwise known, was a balloonist who frequented the heights above Paris.

He took his camera on one trip. Sadly, though, the images no longer exist.

10 – The Oldest Surviving Image Is Almost 200 Years Old: Not only was it taken almost 200 years ago, but it took 8 hours to capture! The photo was taken by Joseph Niepce and named ‘view from the window’.

The scene took place in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France. The photo shows the surrounding castle and other buildings.

A projected image from the window hit a sensitized plate, which was then used to place the image on paper. A lot of work went into this photo, and we are lucky it survived.

11 – The Cameras That Captured the Moon’s Surface Are Still There: When the Apollo 11 mission took off for the moon, they carried 12 Hasselblad cameras with them. They are still there, on the moon.