For many people, especially those in more rural environments, the photo remained a seemingly magical technology even decades after its creation.
Anybody who opens up their camera roll today is bound to find hundreds of photos of themselves, their kids, their friends, and their cats.
But while photos are less than a dime a dozen in the modern digital age, it took them a long to time to get that way.
For many people, especially those in more rural environments, the photo remained a seemingly magical technology even decades after its creation.
Here are 21 images of people who quite possibly only ever sat for one photo: Their singular contribution to history's visual recording.
1
A Victorian Wife
The 1800s.
2
Hindu Rajputs
Soldiers from India in the 1800s.
3
Chief Iretaba of the Mohave Tribe
Born in 1814, died in 1874.
4
Khevsur Man
With a shield and armor, Georgia, 1877.
5
Dancing in a Garden
Some of the world’s oldest surviving film.
6
Photo Restoration
A bugeisha imitation, 1800s Japan.
7
The Buffalo Soldiers
Serving the US Army in 1866.
8
Woman in a Dress
During the 1870s.
9
Frédéric Chopin
The Polish pianist and composer in 1849.
10
Carriage Operators
Dublin, late 1800s.
11
Traveling Woman
Near the turn of the millennium.
12
A Group of Samurai
The late 1800s.
13
Daguerreotype Portrait of Dorothy Draper
Sister to experimental photographer John Draper, taken in 1839.
14
“Moise and Eleonore”
A couple in the 1850s.
15
Two Adult Workers
Alaska in the 1890s.
16
Boundary Marker
After the Mexican-American War, 1898.
17
Cariboo Wagon Road
Canadian miners on the move, 1800s.
18
A Picnic
Maine in the late 1800s
19
An Icelandic Man
Drawing in the late 1800s.
20
Daguerreotype Portrait
A man wearing tinted glasses and holding a cat, 1850.
21
An Early Motoring Competition
Joanny Scotte driving his steam car in the Paris–Rouen Horseless Carriages Contest, 1894.
