Lets take a step back in time and list the most important dates in the history of photography.
A long time ago: It all began with the Camera Obscura (which is Latin for the Dark Room). It is believed that Aristote (384-322 BC), the Arabian scholar Hassan ibn Hassan (965-1038) and Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) already knew its principles. Camera Obscura is essentially a dark, closed space (room or box) with a hole on one side of it. The light passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside, where it is reproduced, upside-down, but with color and perspective preserved. It helped painters during the Renaissance to draw lines over the projected images on canvas.
1816: We know from a letter to his sister in law that Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (French inventor 1765-1833) succeeded in making negative images but that they disappeared quickly with exposure to light.
1826: Is the date of the earliest surviving photograph from nature using a camera obscura by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. (Photo above)
1829: Niepce and Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (French artist and physicist 1787-1851) start working together until Niépce's death.
1835: William Henry Fox Talbot (British inventor 1800-1877) makes his first photogenic drawing a durable silver chloride camera negatives on paper
1839: Louis Daguerre develops the process he calls Daguerréotype after himself. Using the camera obscura, he made the plate inside the camera light sensitive by fumes from iodine crystals. Because Niépce was at the beginning of the research, Daguerre and Niépce's son both received money for their invention by the French government. - John Herschel makes the first glass negative. - W. H. Fox Talbot makes the Calotype process public
1841: W. H. Fox Talbot patents the Calotype process - the first negative-positive process making possible the first multiple copies. It is an improved version of his earlier discovery that greatly reduces the required exposure time.
1851: Frederick Scott Archer (1813-1857) invents the photographic collodion process which precedes the modern gelatin emulsion.
1861: James Clerk Maxwell (Scottish 1831-1879) presents a projected additive color image of a multicolored ribbon, the first demonstration of color photography by the three-color method
1871: Richard Leach Maddox (English 1816-1902) invents lightweight gelatin negative plates for photography.
1888: George Eastman (American innovator 1854-1932) sells the Kodak n°1 box camera, the first easy-to-use camera. It is introduced with the slogan You press the button, we do the rest.
1948: The first poloroid camera is sold to the public. It was invented by Edwin Land (American 1909-1991)
1975: Steven Sasson (engineer at Eastman Kodak) invents and builts the first electronic camera using a charge-coupled device image sensor (digital camera). It is a prototype with 100x100 pixels in black and white.
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Hear the World is a visually compelling and heartwarming collection of over 120 portraits by musician and photographer Bryan Adams, created in collaboration with the Hear the World Foundation. This beautifully curated book brings together some of the most recognizable faces from the worlds of film, music, fashion, and beyond—including Julianne Moore, Bruce Springsteen, The Weeknd, Priyanka Chopra, Jared Leto, Léa Seydoux, and Lenny Kravitz—all captured through Adams' distinctive lens. Each subject strikes the signature "Hear the World" pose, with a hand cupped behind one ear, symbolizing their support for hearing awareness.
The Hear the World Foundation, which focuses on supporting children with hearing loss in low- and middle-income countries, is grounded in the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to hear and live life to its fullest. Adams has been a passionate collaborator with the foundation since 2007, and Hear the World is the culmination of their shared vision to highlight the importance of conscious hearing and advocate for global accessibility to hearing care.
The portraits in Hear the World offer more than just familiar faces—they capture the humanity, individuality, and solidarity of renowned ambassadors uniting for a vital cause. Each image stands as a reminder of the preciousness of sound and the often-overlooked gift of hearing. Through this striking visual anthology, Adams not only showcases his skill behind the camera but also raises awareness of hearing loss and celebrates the foundation's mission.
This book is a testament to the power of art, philanthropy, and collaboration, making Hear the World a touching and meaningful contribution to both the world of photography and the cause of hearing health.
Playful yet haunting, Mary Ellen Mark’s photographs of Indian circus performers depict a world on the brink of disappearance. In 1969, Mark first traveled to India and photographed a circus, captivated by its "beauty and innocence." Two decades later, she returned for six months to document 18 circuses across the country, from bustling cities to remote villages.
Ranging from large troupes with hundreds of performers—both human and animal—to small, intimate acts, Mark's lens captures not the spectacle of the shows, but the quiet moments in between: scenes of practice, rest, and life beyond the spotlight. Her focus is on the human experience—marked by the contradictions of humor and sadness, beauty and hardship. By the time of Mark’s project, Indian circuses were already fading, holding onto an innocence long lost in the West, as they struggled against the pressures of the modern world.
This new edition of her 1993 book preserves the original text and images but reimagines the sequence and design, staying true to Mark’s poignant vision of a dying art form.
Peter Lindbergh photographed Dior’s most exceptional muses, Marion Cotillard and Charlize Theron among them, and signed campaigns for Lady Dior and J'Adore with his inimitable style. Throughout his career, the photographer was one of the house’s closest collaborators. This final book was an original cocreation that was close to the artist’s heart—and to ours.
Seventy years of Dior history projected against the effervescence of Times Square, New York: this was the concept behind Lindbergh’s project, extraordinary both in scope and dimension, for which Dior, in an unusual move, allowed an unprecedented number of priceless garments to be taken from its vaults in Paris and shipped across the Atlantic.
The result is electric. Amid the frenzy of Times Square, Alek Wek glows in the immaculate 1947 Bar suit, the storied ensemble that launched the House of Dior. In snatches of street scenes, models Saskia de Brauw, Karen Elson, and Amber Valletta flit through crowds and scaffolding, are reflected in building façades, and draped in haute couture, from pieces hand-sewn by Christian Dior to more recent designs by Maria Grazia Chiuri. Lindbergh’s trademark monochrome and color photographs masterfully highlight the intricacies, silhouettes, and textures of each garment.
Lindbergh himself is present in every aspect of this publication designed by his long-time collaborator and friend Juan Gatti. This volume features 165 never-before-published images from the shoot, including an introduction by Martin Harrison, and pays homage to Lindbergh’s profound relationship with the Parisian House by curating more than 100 of his photographs of Dior creations, from haute couture to ready-to-wear, men’s and women’s, originally published in some of the world’s most prestigious magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. A breathtaking tribute to two pillars of fashion and photography and their timeless collaborations.
By Alex Prager, Maurizio Cattelan, Pierpaolo Ferrari
Publisher : Damiani
2024 | 40 pages
A captivating fusion of the surreal worlds of Toilet Paper and the striking imagery of artist, director, and screenwriter Alex Prager, the latest issue of Toilet Paper magazine presents a visual dialogue between these creative forces. The issue showcases 12 of Prager’s evocative images alongside 12 conceived by the Toilet Paper team. Known for its vibrant aesthetics and playful visual twists, Toilet Paper enters into a dynamic exchange with Prager’s technicolor universe, where the line between reality and fiction is artfully blurred. Her signature use of archetypes, everyday objects, humor, and allegory creates a provocative and mysterious journey throughout the pages.
This collaboration follows in the footsteps of ToiletMartin PaperParr (2018), a special edition that celebrated the iconic work of internationally acclaimed photographer Martin Parr, along with the creative minds of Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari. Like its predecessor, this issue brings together distinctive visual worlds in a way that delights and intrigues.
