Snaps Through The Ages
Madeleine Bruce takes a look at the evolution of photography.
Since the dawn of time humanity has had a fascination with visual documentation. From the cave paintings of the first men to the shot of your lunch you uploaded to Instagram last week (and the week before that), the tendency of the human race to store their visual experiences has been constant.
The aforementioned cave paintings have stood the grand test of time, with some dating back 40,000 years in both Asia and Europe (that’s older even than Tutankhamun). Nowadays, however, the camera has well and truly settled in the hearts of the masses. A camera could sometimes be mistaken for an extension of the human self, and the lifespan of a snapshot today is not likely to break any longevity records.
So, let’s take a look at photography through the ages…
The earliest surviving photograph
1826 – Nicéphore Niépce’s landscape photograph is the earliest surviving photograph, dating back to the early nineteenth century. Skipping ahead a few years, we meet Henry Fox Talbot, who in 1835 developed the negative-positive method of photography used in all your Kodak moments (and other non-electronic photography).
The digital age creeps up
Skipping ahead again – rapidly! – to the late 1980s, the digital boom put the digital camera in our hands. The ability to store photos digitally without hanging around for at least an hour at the one-hour photo store changed the pace of imaging forever.
Fast forward another few years and the explosion of the internet took photography to a new level. Websites such as Flickr and Imgur brought photography to an online platform, the like of which had never before been possible.
Nowadays, smartphone capabilities allow us to capture, edit and share images at the touch of a button…
DIY galleries
It’s always been important to showcase photography, and reaching a wide audience with a domestic gallery can be tough. Now, with Midphase, it’s never been easier to get your photography online! The quick and easy website builder puts the creative direction in your hands whilst keeping you on the right path. 200 templates are available, and you can use the handy drag-and-drop tool to get your online portfolio up and running in just a few clicks.
Photography gets a DOT
This year the internet threw its doors wide open and released a flurry of alternative domains to the .com or .co.uk that we’ve all been used to. The truth of it is, although the internet is a pretty big place, the chance to secure the .com of your choice is relatively slim nowadays.
A plethora of dot-somethings are on offer for the proverbial online photographer…
There’s .photography (of course), .photo for those who like to keep things snappy (no pun intended), and for those with lazy fingers, or a less formal approach to photography, there’s .pics!
Gadgetry to maximise your smartphone photography – KLYPAPP
New technology is ensuring you can get snap-happy with minimum effort. Developed by Manfrotto, KLYPAPP is the first hands free photography app to hit the app store. Pictures are captured as you clap your hands (I know, crazy), and the app allows you to cut and edit your pics before sharing them with the world via your favourite image sharing social media sites.
KLYP attaches to your iPhone via the case and allows you to take your smartphone photography to new technical heights.
Grab your very own .photography domain today from Midphase, and get your snaps online!