![\"Birthplace](\"https:\/\/the-7th-day.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Geburtshaus-von-Joseph-Nic\u00e9phore-Ni\u00e9pce-1.jpg\")
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<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe First Photograph in the World<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joseph Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce was born on March 7, 1765 in Chalon-sur-Sa\u00f4ne, France, and died on July 5, 1833 in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before becoming known as a photography pioneer, Ni\u00e9pce worked as an officer in the French army and later devoted himself to mechanical and chemical experiments with his brother Claude. From around 1815, he became interested in lithography. Soon after, he began searching for a way to create images directly with light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This search led him to the camera obscura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May 1816, Ni\u00e9pce placed sheets of paper coated with silver salts inside a camera obscura. The paper reacted to daylight and created a small negative image of the view from his window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was one of the earliest known attempts to create a photographic image with a camera. However, the result was not permanent. Once the paper was exposed to light again, the silver salts continued to darken until the image disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ni\u00e9pce called these early images \u201cretinas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though these first results did not survive, they were an important step. Ni\u00e9pce had shown that the camera obscura could do more than project an image. It could also help create one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the unstable silver salt experiments, Ni\u00e9pce continued searching for a more durable process. Around 1817, he experimented with guaiacum resin. This material changed when exposed to light, but it reacted mainly to ultraviolet light. Since the glass lenses of the camera obscura filtered out much of that UV light, it was not suitable for making lasting camera images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, Ni\u00e9pce turned to bitumen of Judea, a natural asphalt-like material. He dissolved it in lavender oil and applied it to plates made of metal or glass. When exposed to light, the bitumen hardened. The parts that received less light could then be washed away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This process became known as heliography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s most famous image is View from the Window at Le Gras. It was made with a camera obscura and is considered the oldest surviving photograph produced with the help of a camera. In the following years, Ni\u00e9pce collaborated with the Parisian artist and inventor Louis Daguerre. Both were interested in optical images and the possibility of making them permanent. After Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s death in 1833, Daguerre continued their work and developed the daguerreotype. This process required shorter exposure times and became much easier to present to the public. As a result, Daguerre\u2019s name became widely known, while Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s role was often less visible. The work of Joseph Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce reminds us that photography began with patience, uncertainty and long exposure times. That is also what makes The 7th Day so close to the origins of photography. Our participants use a simple camera obscura and photo paper to create images over days, weeks, months or even years. The result is not an instant snapshot, but a trace of time and light. Like Ni\u00e9pce, we are interested in what happens when light slowly creates an image. The process is simple, but the result is never fully predictable. Weather, location, material and time all become part of the photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the footsteps of Joseph Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce means looking back at the beginning of photography, but also asking what photography can still be today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It does not always have to be fast, sharp or digital. Sometimes a photograph can be slow. It can be fragile. It can be shaped by time, sunlight and chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the connection between Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s first photography experiments and The 7th Day. Both begin with a camera obscura. Both depend on light. And both show that photography is not only about capturing a moment, but also about making time visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWho Was Joseph Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s First Photography Experiments in 1816<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nFrom Guaiacum Resin to Bitumen of Judea<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"natural-asphalt-pyrimont\"](\"https:\/\/the-7th-day.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/natur-asphalt-pyrimont-300x300.jpg\")
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<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Oldest Surviving Camera Photograph<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The image shows the view from an upper window of Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s estate in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes. Because the exposure lasted for many hours, light appears to fall on different sides of the buildings. This gives the photograph its strange and fascinating sense of time.
Unlike the experiments from 1816, this image did not vanish. It survived and became one of the most important milestones in the history of photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Saint-Loup-de-Varennes-last-resting-place\"](\"https:\/\/the-7th-day.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Saint-Loup-de-Varennes-letzte-ruhest\u00e4tte.jpg\")
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\n\n\n\nNi\u00e9pce, Daguerre and the Invention of Photography<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Still, Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s heliography was the foundation. Without his experiments, the later success of photography would not have been possible in the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy Ni\u00e9pce Matters for The 7th Day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Following Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s Footsteps Today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n