World Photography Day: why is it celebrated every August 19th?

Before this invention appeared, few options existed to record or immortalize a moment in a graphic image. All the significant events and stories of man have a special day in history reserved, and photography could not be an exception. That is why World Photography Day is celebrated every August 19 of each year with enthusiasm for art, science, and the history of humanity. 

For years man had been limited to critical recording events of his daily life through drawings and illustrations; therefore, the invention of photography meant a transcendental step. This technology not only allowed him to tell stories, capture moments, emotions, memories, and feelings, and even send knowledge instantly, but even more effectively than words. 

And if we go further, this invention also came to fulfill a fundamental desire of man: to share all those memories and moments that occur throughout his life. And what better example than the millions of digital photographs taken daily and shared through social networks, messages, chats, and emails. 

In the following lines, we will take a tour of the anecdotes surrounding this celebration and delve into the meaning that photography has had and still has for man. Let's move on to understand it better... 

Where does World Photography Day originate from? 

Even though it is an unofficial holiday, every August 19, millions of photographers and photography enthusiasts commemorate this day in every corner of the planet. And the reason for this celebration forces us to go back to 1837, in France submerged in a revolutionary process, where two inventors, Joseph Nicephore Niepcce and Louis Daguerre, created the daguerreotype and, at the same time, the first photographic process known by the men. 

The daguerreotype, which consisted of printing an image on a copper plate, was publicly released by the French Academy of Sciences on January 19, 1837. Ten days after that date, The French government seized the patent on this invention and offered it to the rest of the world as a royalty-free gift. 

Another figure that stood out in the evolution of photography, but now from a commercial point of view, was the British William Henry Fox Talbot. This inventor simplified the photographing technique in 1838, using salt impressions on paper, standing for the first competition for the French daguerreotype.

However, the innovation that marked the end of heavy copper plates and dangerous chemicals appeared 40 years later with dry gel films on paper. This creation appeared in 1884 by George Eastman from Rochester, who would become the creator of the Kodak camera four years later (1888), a well-known brand closely associated with the history of photography. 

It should be noted that before these events, in 1861, the creation of the first color photograph had been attributed to a Scottish scientist named James Clerk Maxwell. And as a result of this invention, the photographer Thomas Sutton was commissioned to take the first durable color photograph that same year.  

Since when is it celebrated?  

As we have already pointed out, the central meaning of this day is to be able to show the artistic, artisanal, and creative aspects of photography, in addition to recognizing the work of the pioneers in this activity and how technology has evolved around this human invention. 

In this way, both amateurs and professionals of photography, including photojournalists, and camera operators, among others, take advantage of this day to raise awareness and promote ideas around the photographic activity in its different spectrums of use. 

In the same way, the dizzying advances in technology in this field make it possible for this day to be propitious for people to express their creativity through digital photography, which has become one of the preferred forms of communication on social networks. 

In the same way, the dizzying advances in technology in this field make it possible for this day to be propitious for people to express their creativity through digital photography, which has become one of the preferred forms of communication on social networks. 

Today the sophisticated digital technology that can be found in professional cameras such as the Panasonic LUMIX G95MK or in pocket cameras such as the Garmin Dash Cam 57, Fuji Instax Square Sq1 or the Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2, allows anyone to take photos and videos of great quality, to celebrate World Photography Day in style.