How photography developed

PHOTOGRAPHY transformed society by portraying people and places as never before, enabling the general public to possess important images in their lives.

- Stephen Guy

He backs featuring gold (right) Cartes de Visites by Griffin of St Helens

Before early Victorian times, generally only the wealthy were able to commission and own painted portraits and landscapes to adorn their homes.

By about 1845, photography had been perfected although it was largely practiced by enthusiasts and professional photographers who knew the intricacies and techniques of the new art form.

Images were captured on glass plates before being eclipsed by film. When I started work as a news reporter in 1966, glass negatives were still being used for some newspaper pictures.

Illustrated above are forms of photographic prints known as cabinet cards and cartes de visites, popular between about 1870 and 1900. Unfortunately, the people are unknown.