Not many people know these days – but photography originated from the world of art, and only a little more than a hundred years ago at that. Imagine a time where the only practical means of recording a visual was to actually make a sketch or a painting with your hand. Imagine the frustrations of the artist when he is out in the field, making a sketch when it begins to rain, or on the other hand – in scorching sunlight where he has to sit hours on end to get his theme right.  Now, imagine the luxury that we have with a digital camera – all we need to do is literally – point, and shoot! We’ve just set two points of extremes as far as the history of photography goes – from the art of making a hand-made visual to the compact automatic cameras of today. While it may be hard to imagine a train of progressive events and discoveries that led to the evolution from the former to latter scenario, it does hold true.

Well, there are already many facts and dates that we’ve overlooked already, but then again, we intend to give you an idea of the beginnings of photography, and not a history report. The most important thought we need to remember is that photography originated from art, and it remains an art in its own right, while traditional hand-made sketches and paintings can never be replaced at the same time.  The same is true in a comparison of black and white film to modern digital processes. In one sense, we are getting easier methods to make a picture, over the years. At the same time, every new process springs up its own challenges as well.  Today we live in the digital era, and while the artist of the eighteen hundreds may have been hounded by their own challenges of time, space and material, the photographer of today has his own challenges as well. Any new idea is converted into a reality through hard work, and so has it been from the camera obscura to black and white film to color film, to digital cameras.

We need to keep in mind that the basics of what a good visual image are, remain unchanged through this progressive evolution of the visual media.  While it is important to know a little about historic facts on photography; unlike many others, we believe it is far more important to learn the tools that we DO use TODAY. Keep reading our articles to gather more information on what you can do with your current gear.