The history of photography:

It can be argued that it was art that brought us photography. Throughout the ages illustration has evolved to bring us realistic, refined three dimensional imagery dating back the the Medieval art period right up until the Flemish art period.

Camera obscura:

The camera obscura was first established by the Chinese philosopher Mozi (Mo-Ti 470 to 390 BCE) he was also the founder of ‘Mohism’. He referred to this device in his writings as the “locked treasure room” Other prominent figures included the Greek philosopher Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci.

The camera obscura is an optical device which consists of a box (or chamber) with a hole in one side, light from the chosen external surroundings will filter through thus projecting a reversed image on the wall with color and perspective it is clear, the smaller the whole the sharper the image. Some practical users of this device today use a lens as it allows a larger aperture

Nicephore Niepce:

The first public announcement of the world’s first photograph was widely believed to be that of Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre's in the summer of 1839 however the photograph was first discovered by Nicephore Niepce in 1825.

Niepce began experimenting with photogravure etchings and lithography years earlier. He attempted to use the camera obscura to develop a photo-picture, he called this heliography which means “sun drawings” by combining the physical and chemical elements he would invent a photograph. Niepce’s findings resulted in the world’s first ever photograph which was entitled “View from the Study Window at Maison du Gras'

Since then photography and the camera have advanced massively. Inventors created the plate camera in the late 1800s which were cameras made up of dry plates. This technique of photography was popularised by the Pictorialism movement. After this with film developing it was possible to take celluloid photographs with the Kodak black box camera, which is still used in some circles today.

After this came 35mm cameras, which again are still used by many. These were/are much smaller, portable devices and led to the eventual digital TLR (Twin-lens Reflex) and SLR's (Single-lens Reflex) cameras.

Most mobile phones these days include a high quality camera with built in software allowing users to edit their images.