In 1839, Hippolyte Bayard invented photography. And nobody cared.
Become a Video Lab member! http://bit.ly/video-lab
People usually associate the birth of photography with Louis Daguerre’s Daguerreotype. His process became the first widespread method of photography after France revealed it to the world on August 19, 1839. But there were actually multiple inventors of photography, and one of them was an amateur French tinkerer named Hippolyte Bayard. Even before Daguerre’s process was revealed, Bayard had achieved photographic results.
However, François Arago, the chair of the French Academy of Sciences, overlooked Bayard’s accomplishment and elevated Daguerre’s instead. And as a protest to this perceived injustice, Bayard took a self-portrait depicting himself as an unidentified man in the Paris Morgue who took his own life. This image is not only the first staged photo, it’s also an early example of photography depicting something non-literal and symbolic, laying the groundwork for the medium to be used as a form of creative expression.
Bayard’s photographs at the French Society of Photography:
http://www.sfp.asso.fr/photographie/index.php?/search/76
Sources:
The Drowned Inventor, Jillian Lerner: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03087298.2014.939825?journalCode=thph20&
The Impossible Photograph, Michal Sapir:
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/20909
The New History of Photography, Michal Frizot:
(If you or someone you know is considering self-harm, please seek help through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.)
Note: The headline for this video has been updated since publishing.
Previous headline: Why this photography pioneer faked his own death
Darkroom is a series from Vox producer Coleman Lowndes that digs into stories of the past, one photograph at a time. Watch all the episodes here: http://bit.ly/321DvzO
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.
Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o
Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H
Original source
31 responses to “The first faked photograph”
If you'd like to help us make our videos even better, consider joining the Video Lab: http://bit.ly/vox-video-membership
Happy Friday! Thanks for watching our stuff 🌻🌻
I read that as "the first naked photograph"
Oh wow
Stop calling people by their last names. Call them by their first names.
The first inventor of photography would be Joshep Niepce
It all went downhill from there
Amazing shot
The wealthy coast methodologically box because minibus prospectively precede within a better ounce. sincere, lame aquarius
Ancestors of Youtuber editors nowadays:
Why are there 693 comments !?
King of drama
Why didn't i learn about this in school?????????
I wish he could see this.
So he was the first one to learn to Photoshop.
feel kinda bad for Bayard…
Worlds first click baiter
Noice.
"Also Windmills. He loved windmills."
Woah the first editor
"Also windmills, he loves windmills"
That looks better then some photoshop jobs now
what an artist
i thought the title said "the first naked photograph" for a second lol
Title should be: Man invents Photoshop in 1800s
Jaystations great-great granpa.
How did this became OnlyFans
E
Hol up this has 666 comments
🦖
3:37 J.S MEMES lol
3:34
Everybody forgot about literal J.S. Memes