Sunday, May 29, 2011

Iconic Photographs: Boulevard du Temple



    (Click on images to enlarge).

The photograph above, taken by Louis Daguerre on the streets of Paris in 1838, is entitled Boulevard du Temple.  Its fame and iconic status comes from the fact that it is the first photograph to depict a person.  The exposure time was 10 minutes, hence moving traffic does not appear.  At the bottom left a man and a shoeshine boy are visible, having been still long enough to form an image. 


In October 2010 a graphic artist played around with the image to see if he could locate more persons.  He colourised the photograph, digitally enhanced it  and allowed enlargement by clicking on the image.  The website is at:

That site also features an enlarged copy of the above photograph which can be further enlarged by clicking on it.  Use the following link and then click on that image:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Boulevard_du_Temple_by_Daguerre.jpg

The colourised photograph, which appears below, can also be viewed at the following link where it can be further enlarged by clicking on the image:
There are various discussions in the comments on that site as to possible other persons in the photograph.

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