89th Wilmington International Exhibition of Photography (PSA2022-XXXX)

There are two ways to become a Patron.

Online: Donate online via PayPal using the Donate button below. If you would like to remain anonymous, please indicate this in the special instructions section of your PayPal transaction.

Paper: A paper form can be found by clicking here: Patron Donation Form. Please print and mail your completed form with your payment to Delaware Photographic Society, c/o Patrick Litle, 4 Forest Creek Dr, Hockessin, DE 19707.

Please mark your check “WIEP Patron.”

A Brief History of Photography

In 1827, Joseph Nicephore Niépce made the first permanent photograph with a camera obscura. In 1829, Niépce formed a partnership with Louis Daguerre to perfect the process Niépce had developed. Daguerre announced the Daguerreotype in 1839 and it popularized photography although it was a different process from those that followed (silver on a copper plate).

John Herschel discovered the first effective photograph fixer and informed Henry Fox Talbot and Daguerre of his discovery. Fox Talbot invented the first glass negative from which multiple positive prints were made. In 1841, Fox Talbot announced the Calotype process which is essentially the same negative-positive process used to this day for black and white photographs using conventional film and printed on a paper substrate.

In 1861, James Clerk Maxwell took the first color photograph but it was not until 1907 that brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière launched the Autochrome process which was the first fully practical color plate.

Finally, zoom up to 1969 when Willard Boyle and George Smith at Bell Labs developed the CCD (Charge Couple Device) which is the basis of digital photography. For this they were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.

         Brief Rest by Helen Gerstein  (2019 PSA Gold Medal (Best in Show) - Print Small Color)