The word ‘photography’ comes from the Greek and literally means ‘drawing with light’ or ‘light writing’. The British inventor and scientist William Henry Fox Talbot took some of the earliest photographs ever taken – like this one in 1844.
In one, an open door stands ajar…perhaps representing the new world he, as pioneer was about to step into:
My particular favourite shows four girls in 1842 – ghost-like in their white capes. So clearly from another time, but miraculously appearing from the darkness:
A Swedish film ‘Everlasting Moments’, captures so well the magic of the early days of the medium: ‘You see a world there to be explored. You can’t turn back.’
