Every year on August 19th, World Photography Day (also known as World Photo Day) celebrates photography's art, craft, science, and history.

Iran PressEurope: The day also encourages photographers from around the globe to share a single photo that encapsulates their world.

History of photography

Photography, as we know it today, did not come about in the early 1900s when people found a way to permanently capture a scene on a surface using chemicals that reacted to light. The earliest surviving photograph dates back to 1826 or 1827. French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took it. The photograph is a view of Niépce's estate in Burgundy, France.

While photography is a relatively modern innovation, the human desire to capture moments and memories and share them with others is as old as the history of humankind itself. One of the most senior attempts to record events was the discovery of the camera obscura. It is a device with a hole through which light passes, creating an inverted image of the scene outside. Known to have been used as a way to recreate events - artists would sketch or trace the image to record it - for centuries, the earliest records of camera obscura date back to 400 BCE in China.

World Photography Day history

The first World Photography Day was held on August 19, 2010. On this date, nearly 270 photographers shared their pictures in a global online gallery. People from over 100 countries visited the online gallery. This event marked the first official World Photography Day. The day is held on August 19th as it’s the date in 1839 that the government in France purchased the patent for the Daguerreotype process. The French government called the invention of the Daguerreotype process a free gift to the world.

How to celebrate?

Whether you are an amateur, a professional, or someone who spends most of their day taking phone pictures and sharing them with your social media followers, World Photography Day is an easy holiday to celebrate. Here are some ways you can enjoy this day:

Learn and read more about the history and science behind photography.

If you have always wanted to learn photography, maybe today is the time to start taking lessons.

If you are a photographer, why not volunteer your time to teach your craft and trade to others?

You can also submit a photo to WorldPhotographyDay.com

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