Louis Daguerre: Paris 1839

Louis Daguerre is an impressionist photographer. He was known for his pictures taken in London and Paris. Louis Daguerre was born in 1787 in Cormeilles France, he was a painter and physicist who is credited with one of the earliest photographic mediums. Daguerre's technique required ten to twenty minuetes of exposure. This image is of Paris in 1839 (wordpress2). The image was taken with this same exposure. If you look very closely at the bottom left of the photograph you will see something odd. The image includes a picture of a man getting his shoes shinned. The figures are small and completely black, but this is one of the first known pictures of a human being. Critics say, "Because the exposure was over ten minutes, the photograph did not capture the pedestrians and carriages that would have been busily passing this location on Boulevard du Temple" (wordpress.com2).