In the early days of photography, in the first half of the 19th century, a certain Daguerre perfected the first photographic process based on the work of his associate Nicéphore Niépce. During an outdoor outing, he perfected his invention and produced the first photograph of the capital. Almost 200 years later, we still admire the inventor’s work and marvel at the Paris of yesteryear.
Here’s the oldest photo of the City of Light
Fascinating in so many ways, the Paris of yesteryear in photos, videos or 3D reconstructions allows us to immerse ourselves in an unknown era and learn a little more about the city. Today, we’re taking a look back at the first photograph of the capital, at a time when this invention was being perfected. Taken from a window in Daguerre’s studio, it shows Boulevard du Temple in an (almost) totally empty Paris.
We have to go back a century before the Second World War, before the Commune and the Belle-Époque, to trace the first photograph of Paris. Armed with a so-called “Daguerreotype“, Daguerre took his photographic experiments outdoors for the first time and captured the moment. Although there is no precise source for the date of the photograph, it is thought to have been taken in 1938 or 1937, since Daguerre presented it to the French government in January 1939.
Another historical curiosity on this day was the capture of a human being in a photograph. Indeed, before the photographic process was perfected, it required a subject to pose for long periods of time. Coincidentally, this is precisely what a man below was doing, having his shoes shined. So this is a doubly historic photo!