View from the Window at Le Gras
View from the Window at Le Gras (La cour du domaine du Gras) was the first successful permanent photograph, created by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes.
Nicéphore Niépce captured the photo with a camera obscura focused onto a sheet of 20 × 25 cm (7.9 × 9.8 in) pewter plate coated with bitumen of Judea, a mixture similar to asphalt.[1] The bitumen mixture hardened when exposed to the light, while the unexposed portions remained water soluble and could be washed away with a mixture of oil of lavendar and white petroleum.[1] As a result of the 8-hour exposure, sunlight illuminates the buildings on both sides.[2][3]
After an unsuccessful trip to Britain to attempt to interest the Royal Society in his "Heliography" process, Niépce gave the photo to the British botanist Francis Bauer. It was last publicly exhibited in 1898, and was thereafter forgotten.[1] Helmut Gernsheim brought the photo to prominence again in 1952 and the Eastman Kodak Company made a copy.
In 1973, the University of Texas acquired the plate from Helmut Gernsheim. As of 2012, the plate is on display in the main lobby of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.[1] In 2003 Life listed it among "100 Photographs that Changed the World".[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "The First Photograph". Harry Ransom Center. http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wfp/. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
- ^ Laura Hutchins. "Preservation of Friction Ridges - History of Photography". https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/225328.pdf. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
- ^ Barbara London, John Upton, Jim Stone. Photography (10 ed.). ISBN 978-0205711499.
- ^ "100 Photographs that Changed the World". The Digital Journalist. http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm21.html. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
[edit] External link
Coordinates: 46°43′37″N 4°51′26″E / 46.72694°N 4.85722°E
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