2. Photographer Mark W. Decker pursues interests in both the
techniques and history of photography. Mark W. Decker
has learned much about how the art originally developed.
The world's first known photograph came about because
early-19th century French farmer and inventor Joseph
Nicéphore Niépce could not draw well. Interested in the
then-new art of lithography, he had tried his hand at
copying engravings using stones and a light-sensitive
varnish. In the summer of 1826, he incorporated the
camera obscura to create a new technique: coating a
polished pewter plate with bitumen of Judea (a
petroleum derivative that hardened with light), he placed
the plate inside a camera obscura, uncovered the lens,
and left it in the window of his home.
3. Eight hours later, Niépce removed the plate
and washed it with white petroleum and oil of
lavender. This mixture removed the
unhardened bitumen and created a positive
image of the view from his window.
He brought his invention to the Royal Society in
England in 1827, but the Society expressed no
interest and Niépce left the photograph
behind with his host, Sir Francis Bauer. Bauer
noted Niépce's name and information on the
plate's frame, which slipped into obscurity until
photohistorian Helmut Gernsheim tracked its
location in the 1950s.
