Every Year, on June 29, National Camera Day is celebrated. On this day, we celebrate the fact that photography, once so complex that took a scientist to understand, is now part of our day-to-day lives. The word “photography” is based on two Greek words that mean “writing with light.” What a camera lets us do, is a beautiful way of describing – telling a story without the use of words. It all goes back more than 800 years to the creation of the camera obscura which means “dark chamber,” the camera obscura was a box with a hole on one side. Light would pass into the dark interior of the box through the hole, where it would project an image onto the flat internal surface. When the light was gone, the image faded.
Whether you prefer the ease of digital or love shooting film and changing lenses use June 29 to focus on how cameras have made telling our stories more effortless than ever.
Timeline of National Camera Day
400 B.C.E. (Ancient Optics Invented) – The Chinese provided the earliest known written record of their exploration of camera Obscura, or pinhole imagery.
1825 (The First Image Printed) – French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce invented a print that required eight hours of light exposure to create and which soon faded the, it was called – the heliograph.
1839 (The Forerunner of Filming Born) – Louis Jacques Daguerre invented the first commercially successful photographic process for creating a permanent image on a metal plate. This process was known as Daguerreotype.
1841 (Talbot Patents the Calotype) – William Henry Fox Talbot patented the Calotype process, the first negative-positive process which made it possible to reproduce multiple copies of a picture.
1880s (Enter Modern Film) – In 1884, George Eastman invented the first flexible photographic film. He followed this up with another first in 1888, when he patented the Kodak roll-film camera.
1900 (Meet the Brownie) – The first mass-marketed camera went on sale and the public went wild.
1903 (Photography Takes Wing) – The Wright Brothers invented the airplane, which revolutionized aerial photography, making it an important tool for the military.
1925 (Photography Hits the Presses) – The Leica I became the first, photojournalists’ favorite, practical, and commercially successful 35 mm camera.
1935 (Eastman Does It Again) – Eastman introduced Kodachrome, the first and arguably best color transparency film.
1936 (“Life” Hits the Streets) – Henry Luce’s “Life” became the first all-photographic magazine to appear on newsstands.
1948 (Instant Gratification Lands) – George Land invented the Land Camera, the world’s first instant-picture, no development-needed camera.
1970s-90s (Enter the Digital Age) – Multiple manufacturers went to work on cameras that stored images electronically, resulting in the first point-and-shoot cameras.
2000 (Cameras on a Phone?) – The first mobile phone with a built-in camera was introduced.
2004 (Digital Becomes Dominant) – Kodak stopped making film cameras.
Activities on National Camera Day
Say cheese and smile – National Camera Day gives you another reason to get your family together for a summer photo session. Maybe it could become the new tradition.
Take a safari – A passport for this one is not needed, only enough free time to slow down and look at familiar surroundings in a new way. Shoot the familiar street at different times of the day as the light changes. If you enjoy walking in the woods, get in close and photograph the knot in a tree or a single drop of rain. Roaming around with a camera can give you a new outlook on how you see the world.
Get creative by scrapbooking – Photos can occupy a lot of space on your computer or deteriorate when hoarded away in boxes. Clear up the mess and organize your favorites into scrapbooks. In order to create a deeply personal and highly appreciated gift, select photos with a specific person in mind.
Interesting Facts about Photography
You do have a “good side” – According to researchers at Wake Forest University, the left side of our faces looks better in photographs than the right side does.
The best model was a dead model – Many of the earliest photographic portraits taken were of corpses because it used to take hours of exposure to capture a single image.
Cheers for the Cheerleader Effect – According to research published in the journal “Psychological Science”, we are perceived as looking better in group shots than in individual portraits because being in a group averages out everyone’s features.
They weren’t afraid to smile – Actually, the reason people look so fierce in old photos is one of necessity; it was almost impossible to hold a smile when you have to sit completely motionless for hours to get a single shot.
The Selfie Debuts in 1839 – That was a process that took several minutes. Robert Cornelius set up his camera in the back part of his family store, pulled the lens cap, and then ran into the frame to capture his own photograph.
Why We Love National Camera Day
Why We Love National Camera Day – Of course, you could pick up a pen or use a computer to write about what is going on in your life, or you could take and post a picture. Photography gives you an opportunity to show the world what you are doing, how you are feeling, or where you are in a single image.
Photography preserves memories – Photographs can become cherished heirlooms over time. Whether you post your pictures to a website or save them stashed in shoeboxes, photography guarantees that the moments we care about most can be captured permanently saved, and shared.
Anyone can be a photographer – There is no steep learning curve to photography anymore, no heavy equipment to carry around. You can always be ready to get the shot from simple point-and-shoot cameras to cell phones and tablets.
