This is the first photo ever produced of a person (lower left) by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre in 1839 on a daguerreotype – a silver-plated sheet of copper. He did this with a wood box with a lens on one end that produces an image onto a frosted sheet of glass on the other end. He revealed this process and some of his images publicly on August 19, 1839 (my Birthday!). Most of his photos were of still-life subjects, but this long exposure photo captured a person near a road in Paris. It appears he is getting his shoe shined. Below is the first ever photograph produced that is in existence today. It was made by Nicéphore Niépce in 1827 and is called Point de vue du Gras (View from the Window at Le Gras).

Point de vue du Gras

Close up of the original plate