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Photography
Collecting
photographic cards
Photography has always interested hu- Louis Daguerre would help spur on the technical de-
man beings. The darkroom was already velopment of photography based on Joseph
known in Aristotle’s time in the 4th Nicéphore Niépce’s technique, by creating the «da-
century BCE. But in order to really talk guerreotype», which may be described as the first
about photography, we had to wait for photographic camera. Though some painters feared
for their jobs, the craze for the device was real. From
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, who photo- the second half of the 18th century onwards, a nu-
graphed a wing of his property in Saint- mber of photographers began to appear who were
Loup-de-Varennes at the beginning of determined not to remain in the shadows.
the 19th century. The photo in question Photographers were regularly in demand as portrai-
is currently at the University of Austin tists. Because few people owned a camera, many
in Texas. However, at the time, the ex- people went to have their portrait taken by a profes-
posure time was several hours, and the sional. The professional got into the habit of using
quality of the result was poor. their photos as a most practical advertising tool. As
such, it is not unusual to find the name and contact
36 Delcampe Magazine
