Joseph Nicèphore Nièpce

The inventor of photography. Born in March 1765.

I would not say he came from a rich family; he came from a very rich family with a lot of influence. His father was a lawyer and estate manager. He owned a lot of land and buildings in Chalon-sur-Saône where Nièpce grew up. His father was also a King counseller and deposit collector for Chalonnais. Growing up with this much privilege it is said to influence Nièpce in ways like his slow working process and inheriting the brilliant mind of his father. But the most important part of the way he grew up is that he had the opportunity for education. Nièpce studied Physics and Chemistry which where his passion.

When he finished his studies, he joined the National guard for 4 years, and after the French Revolution he was 12 years in the Revolutionary Army. He then got married and moved to Nice. This brother Claude joined him, and it was here the two brothers started their first inventor’s project. They started developing a new engine principle that were based on air expansion during an explosion.

In 1801 they all moved back to the family estate in Chalon-sur-Saône and by 1807 they had gotten a patten signed by Napoleon himself to the first internal combustion engine in the world. Its with this engine the two brothers changed paths. Claude traveled to England and tried to sell the engine with a strong belief in their invention, while Joseph stayed at their estate working on some passion projects of his. One of them leading to the first photography.

At that time the camera obscura where all the rage. When a family went traveling, they took with them the camera obscura, sat down in front of the area they wanted to capture, and drew out the scene by hand using the box. This was a lengthy process which where in many peoples interests to make more efficient. And many people tried. It is important to note that when someone came close to solving the problem, it was written about. Like today when there is scientific progress there are articles written for everybody to read.

Before Nièpce started his experiments with photography several people had managed to take a photograph using light. The main problem was that when this type of photograph was exposed to light it disappeared. Getting the picture to stay permanent was the missing link Nièpce wanted to solve.

He figured out that an asphalt like substance called bitumen of Judea where sensitive to light, and this led to the creation of what we know today as the first photograph. The method he used were as follows:

He mixed powdered bitumen and water into a thick paste.
Then he painted the mixture onto a flat pewter plate.
He used heat to dry the mixture on to the plate.
He then placed it into the Camera obscura.
There it was exposed to light for about 8 hours.
At last ha washed the mixture off using white petroleum and lavender oil.

He called this prosses for holography, which translates to sun writing. When ha got this great breakthrough, he submitted his research to various institutions trying to get funding to continue his project. Sadly, there was no interest for it and he had to continue on alone and with a limited budget. That was until he met Louis-Mandè Daguerre. He was equally interested in the topic of photography and had the funds to further Niepce’s research. They entered a formal partnership in 1829 and after Niepce’s death Daguerre continued making improvements to their work and introduced the “Daguerrotype” process in 1839.

“The first photograph” is by what we know today the first surviving example. Nièpce actually had an successful attempt at this earlier an 1822. He did a reproduction of an etching, but he continued to experiment with it, and it got damaged.

But the goal was to take a photograph that where permanent, and that he did. “The first Photograph” is at this time displayed in the Ranson Centre at the university of Texas. When seeing it in real life many people get confused. It is dark and dim, and you can almost not see anything. You start to see more and more when walking around it, seeing it at different angles. The photograph we are used to see online is an enhanced version that shows the details better, but do not look like the real photograph in color and contrast.

There is a great irony to “The first photograph”. When trying to make it, the intent of reproduction where at the forefront of why Nièpce did put in so much effort. It was the reason Daguerre continued developing it and at the end, in this day of age, a photograph is something that can be reproduced by the click of a button. But one photograph that can never be reproduced is “the first photograph”. Objects that are one of a kind is rare now a days. And while Nièpce sought to create something reproducible he created something truly one of a kind. And all the images that surround us today, links back to this one single photograph.

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