Photography History:
including a brief history on stock photography.
We can not talk about the history of stock photography without first touching on photography history itself. Without the invention of the first camera or the first negative, the stock industry would not exist.
Photography, the word is derived from the Greek words photo “light” and graphein “to draw or write” and was first coined by scientist Sir John F.W. Hershel in 1839. It might surprise you though to find out that photography had been around long before that. The first cameras date back to the 5th century. These cameras, however, did not record images, but merely projected them onto an opening in the wall of a darkened room onto a given surface.
The first recorded photograph in photography history, however wasn’t until 1814 and was taken by Joseph Nicephore Niepce.
If you would like a full detailed timeline of the history of photography please see our
photography timeline.
Stock Photo History
The history of stock photography started with photography outtakes from various assignments. This changed however with the birth of the first well established stock photography firm founded in 1920 by H. Armstrong Roberts. This firm is still in operation today and is run under it’s original name RobertStock and will forever be etched in the history of stock photography.
For many years after RobertStock was founded stock photography still consisted of only outtakes of commercial shoots. That is until about 1990. This is when Getty images and Corbis came on the seen. Now, photographers where taking photos exclusively to submit to stock houses.
In 2000 many of these stock firms where showing up onto the net, making it even easier to access images.
Shortly after the introduction of stock photography onto the Internet, micro-stock was born, with, istock, being the first ever firm to offer images to the everyday designer and small business owner. Before istock came on the seen a designer would be hard pressed to pay less than $200 for a photo, and in many cases much, much more.
Micro-stock, however, offers photos for as little as $1 for a web resolution picture and only a few dollars more for a print ready picture that can be purchased for a multitude of
uses
depending on the
license
agreement of the photography firm.
Photography has been fascinating people for centuries and will continue to inspire for all time. With new technologies and more and more people going into business for themselves and needing reliable and inexpensive ways to market and grow, insure the stock photography industry will continue to grow, and play a huge part in everyday business.
To better understand The history of stock photography click on
photography history.
and see a detailed timeline of photography milestones.
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