Celebrating 175 Years of Photography – World Photography Day [ 19 August 1839 ]

19 August 2014 :: World Photo Day 2014, marks a special anniversary for photographers across the globe. It marks the 175th anniversary of the first permanent photographic process patented and freely released to the world on August 19th, 1839.

 This year, World Photo Day is encouraging businesses, organizations and social groups across the world to leverage the power of photography by engaging their communities as part of a global photography celebration held over August.

Today, we can share memories across the globe in seconds. Photography is an invention that has revolutionised the way we see the world. We can visit places without leaving our home. We can share adventures with friends in another city and we can watch grandchildren grow up thousands of kilometers away.

 World Photo Day originates from the invention of the Daguerreotype, a photographic processes developed by Joseph Nicèphore Nièpce and Louis Daguerre in 1837. On January 9, 1839, The French Academy of Sciences announced the daguerreotype process. A few months later, on August 19, 1839, the French government purchased the patent and announced the invention as a gift “Free to the World”.

It should be noted that the Daguerreotype wasn’t the first permanent photographic image. In 1826, Nicèphore Nièpce captured the earliest known permanent photograph known as ‘View from the Window at Le Gras’ using a process called Heliography.

August 19th, 1839 was chosen as the date behind World Photo Day based on the following historical merits:

The Daguerreotype was the first practical photographic process.

The purchase and release of the patent by the French government.