May is National Photography Month!

Updated: Jul 26

National Photography Month

This is a stock photo and not owned by yahumpphotograph

National Photography Month could be celebrated by digging up old photos that haven’t been seen in years and marveling at the times gone by and all of the incredible experiences that were had, as well as taking lots of new photos to enjoy in the years to come.

The concept of the pinhole camera obscura dates back to ancient times. One of the earliest known written records of a pinhole image is found in the Chinese text called Mozi, which is dated to the 4th century BC. This text is traditionally ascribed to and named after Mozi, a Chinese philosopher and the founder of the Mohist School of Logic. Mozi used a small hole in a darkened room to create an inverted image projected onto a screen, allowing him to study the principles of light and optics

Additionally, in 500 BCE, the philosopher Aristotle discovered that by passing sunlight through a pinhole, he could create a reversed image of the Sun on the ground. He used this device as a means for viewing an eclipse without having to stare directly into the Sun

These are stock photos and not owned by yahumpphotography

This is a stock photo and not owned by yahumpphotography

The earliest surviving photo of nature was taken in 1826 by the French scientist and inventor Nicéphore Niépce. At that time, it took days of exposure for a photo to be ready. One of ’s Niépce contemporaries, French painter Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, was so excited about this invention that he continued to pursue the process, vastly reducing exposure time and creating opportunities for portraits.

Today, close to two centuries later, it is possible to see just how far photography has come. (Well, except for selfies. Those should probably not be considered progress, as far as humanity goes, anyway.) With the instantly developed Polaroid camera created in 1948 and then finally digital cameras marketed in the late 1990s, the progress has been remarkable.

National Photography Month was created to help people all over the world celebrate the invention of this incredible means of communication with previous and future generations.

So be sure not to let this day go to waste and make some memories with a photograph!

Back in the 20th century when cameras needed film, digital camera technology began as a sat-nav for astronauts. Since then, Kodak, Apple and many others have played important roles in developing today's pocket-sized marvels. Let's dive into digital camera history to mark the milestone devices and the groundbreaking tech... And The Rest Is History!

The first actual digital still camera was developed by Eastman Kodak engineer Steven Sasson in 1975. He built a prototype (US patent 4,131,919) from a movie camera lens, a handful of Motorola parts, 16 batteries and some newly invented Fairchild CCD electronic sensors.

The resulting camera, pictured in 2007 on its first trip to Europe, was the size of a printer and weighed nearly 4 kilograms. It captured black-and-white images on a digital cassette tape, and Sasson and his colleagues also had to invent a special screen just to look at them.

Hindsight is 20/20, Kodak missed the boat by not developing this technological breakthrough, as it chose to continue to focus on photographic film.

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Key Milestones in Photography:

1888: The first camera, created by George Eastman, was sold in the U.S. by Kodak for $25.
1948: The Polaroid camera, which generated instant photos, was developed.
1988: The first truly portable digital camera hit the market.
1999: The Kyocera Visual Phone VP-210 became the first phone with a camera.

As I stated in earlier blogs, I started out using my parents old Brownie Camera and the first camera I bought was a Kodak 110 camera. When I got a bit older my uncle gave me a used Pentax SLR. These cameras were a way for me to discover photography and start to develop a style.

Brownie Camera and 120 roll film circa 1950's

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Kodak 110 Camera, flash cubes, and 110 film cartridge circa 1970's

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The Canon AEI, the Nikon FM2, and the Pentax K 1000 were three of the most popular cameras from the early 1980's to the early 2000's

This is a stock photo and not owned by yahumpphotography

This is a stock photo and not owned by yahumpphotography

This is a stock photo and not owned by yahumpphotography

The Camera Phone!

It is hard to imagine that the camera phone is twenty-four years old. Even to an older photographer like me, it seems camera phones have been around forever. Cellular phones changed the way we communicate and do work.

Few people did not have the Nokia 3310 in 2000. I loved that little blue phone and it was my first cell phone. The price per min to talk was high and who new that the world would soon change forever.

As the first camera phones were announced, it was the camera-free Nokia 3310 was the handset that most people were using (Image credit: Getty Images)

In November 2000, Sharp launched the J-SH04 – the world's first camera phone capable of sending picture messages. Initially it was only available in Japan, Sharp JS-H04 - the first camera phone (Image credit: Sharp)