Immortal Shoe-Shiner

In 1826 Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce created the first ever photo in a process that took 10 hours of exposure. By 1838 his partner, Louis Daguerre had formulated a quicker, more practical process and took the first ever photo of a human being shown here.


The photo depicts Boulevard du Temple in central Paris on a busy afternoon. Unfortunately the process still took several minutes of exposure, so the bustling Parisians and horse-drawn carriages are invisible. The only exception happens to be a man having his shoes polished by a street shoe-shiner – obviously the only ones to remain reasonably still throughout. So, the first photo of a person was not of a monarch, photographer or model, but rather an anonymous, oblivious shoe-shiner and his customer. I find it strangely reassuring.