In 1826, a Frenchman named Nieple needed pictures for his business. But he was not a good artist. So he invented a very simple camera. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his garden. That was the first photo.
The next important date in the history of photography was in 1837. That year, Daguerre, another Frenchman, took a picture of his reading room. He used a new kind of camera in a different way. In his picture you could see everything very clearly, even the smallest thing. The kind of photo was called a Daguerreotype. Soon, other people began to use Daguerre's way. Travelers brought back wonderful photos from all over the world. People took pictures of famous buildings, cities and mountains.
In about 1840, photography was developed. Then photographers could take pictures of people and moving things. That was not simple. The photographers had to carry a lot of films and other machines. But this did not stop them, for example, some in the United States worked so hard.
Mathew Brady was a famous American photographer. He took many pictures of great people. The pictures were unusual because they were life like.
Photography also became one kind of art by the end of the 19th century. Some photos were not just copies of the real world. They showed the author's ideas and feelings, like other kinds of art.
