Kodak Brownie camera A girl taking a photograph with a Kodak Brownie camera, c. 1935. (more) 12 Key Dates in the History of Photography Written by Alicja Zelazko Alicja Zelazko is Associate Editor, Arts and Humanities, covering topics in the visual arts, architecture, music, and performance. Before joining Encyclopædia Britannica in 2017, she worked at the Art... Alicja Zelazko Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Jan. 28, 2026 •History Photography in the 21st century is as effortless as pointing a phone and tapping. A person can take a seemingly infinite number of shots of cats scrunched in boxes, dinners at new restaurants, or views out airplane windows and then immediately share them on social media, flooding the feeds of followers. But at its beginning—before selfies, Instagram filters, and viral memes—photography was much slower and sometimes cumbersome. Here are 12 key dates that got us...

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