World Photography Day, also known as World Photo Day, is annually observed across the globe on August 19 to celebrate the art, craft, and science of photography.
- The day serves as a global platform for photographers and enthusiasts to connect, share their passions, showcase their work, and encourage photography appreciation around the world.
Theme 2024:
i.The 2024 theme of World Photography Day is ‘An Entire Day’.
ii.The theme emphasises to capture images that challenge conventional perspectives and offer fresh insights into day-to-day scenes, subjects, and environments.
World Photography Week:
i.World Photography Week 2024 is a two-week-long worldwide celebration of photography from 12th to 26th August 2024.
ii.On each day of World Photography Week, people have to share a photo on the social media using #World Photography Week.
Photography:
i.Photography is the art of capturing light with a camera, through a digital sensor or film, to create an image.
ii.The word ‘photography’ means ‘drawing with light’ and it was first coined by the British scientist Sir John Herschel in 1839.
History:
i.In 1837, a first-ever photographic process named ‘Daguerreotype’ was developed by Frenchman Joseph Nicephore Niepce and Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre.
ii.The invention of Daguerreotype was officially announced by the French Academy of Sciences in 1839.
iii.On August 19, 1839, the French Government purchased the patent for the invention and gave it as a gift, ‘free to the world’.
iv.In 2009, the World Photography Organization (WPO) proposed World Photography Day as an annual celebration to honour this pivotal moment in the history of photography.
v.The first official world photography day was observed on 19th August 2010. On this date nearly 270 photographers shared their photographs in a global online gallery.
Key Facts:
i.The first permanent photographic image known as ‘View From the Window at Le Gras’ was taken by Joseph Nicephore Niepce using the Heliography process.
ii.The first durable colour photo was taken in 1861 using a three-colour method invented by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell.
iii.The first digital photograph was taken in the year 1957 by Russell Kirsch.
iv.The first actual digital still camera was developed by Eastman Kodak engineer Steven Sasson in 1975.
