Choose the best picture of yourself and post it in your blog. Then in 100 words write why that is your best picture.
Read the article and find the meaning of each of the words in bold.
Photography
In 1760, a man named Tiphaigne de la Roche made a bizarre prediction. In an imaginary story called Giphantie, mirror images of scenes from nature could be captured permanently on a canvas covered with a sticky material. After the material dried in darkness, the image would remain on the canvas forever. At the time, the idea was unheard of. It was not until the following century that the concept of photography was born, starting with some experiments by Nicéphore 5 Niépce.
Nicéphore Niépce, who was a French inventor, was interested in lithography, which is a printmaking technique. He was experimenting with lithography when he found a way of copying etchings onto glass and pewter plates using a chemical that changes when it is exposed to light. He learned to burn images onto the plates and then print the images on paper. He shared his 10 findings with Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, who improved the process and announced it to the French Academy of Sciences in 1839.
The Daguerreotype, the photography method named after Daguerre, met with great success. It was so successful, in fact, that French newspapers said the French public had an illness called Daguerreotypomania! Daguerreotypes were inexpensive and were suitable for portraiture. People called the Daguerreotype a “mirror with a memory.” Some 15 portrait artists went out of business when Daguerreotypes came into vogue. Others became Daguerreotypists, now known as photographers.
Photography took off and today includes You Tube fans, I–Reporters, and everybody with a cell phone camera. Today photography captures life around the globe. The bizarre prediction of Mr. de le Roche has come true, and then some.
But how was the prediction of mirror-image pictures made in the first place? Was de la Roche’s prediction of mirror-image photography just a lucky guess? Or was the Daguerreotype a picture-perfect case of life imitating art?
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