The art of photography has been around for over a century now, but the average image you’ll encounter in your day-to-day life is probably taken on a smartphone within the last year or two. So it can be interesting to explore the world before phones and even the internet and see the past through the actual lenses used at the time.

#1 Two Girls Gallop Full Speed On Sheep In Cornwall, England 1969

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#2 Dancing In The South Bronx, New York, 1979

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While photography as an art and a practicality would come about later, a device commonly referred to as a camera obscura was used to project “images” onto walls in a darkened room. Han Chinese philosopher Mozi describes the physics behind this phenomenon in roughly the 4th century BCE. 

It can be thought of more like a projector, than a camera, creating a temporary image on a flat surface. The only way to preserve or replicate it, would be to manually trace the image, which is why they were commonly used as drawing tools for architects and designers. 

#3 A Cat Named Buffins, Photographed After Winning The Award For “Most Attractive Expression” At A National Cat Club Contest, In Washington, 1958

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#4 Playing Cards In The Back Of A Car. (1950s)

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#5 Bowmont Drive Entrance Of Frank Sinatra’s Home In The 1960s

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The first image from a camera was created in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a French inventor. He managed to capture the view from his window, although the process did require eight hours of exposure on pewter coated with bitumen. Nevertheless, he achieved an image that wasn’t just some light on a wall. Over time, inventors would, bit by bit, reduce the time needed to capture something. 

#6 A Beautiful Family Picture

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#7 Elvis And His Mother Gladys

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#8 Ida Lupino – Great Dress Of The Times

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The first camera that could be effectively manufactured was invented in 1839 by another Frenchman, Alphonse Giroux. His device cost around 400 francs, a solid chunk of change at the time, and would only take between half an hour to an hour to “create” an image. Unfortunately for Alphonse, others took his idea and quickly upgraded it, creating more popular products. 

#9 They Are The Carter Family Of Toronto, Ontario In 1936. Louise And John William Carter, Immigrants From Barbados, Went On To Have 9 Children Over A 10 Year Period

The oldest child of this couple George Carter went on to become the first Canadian born Black judge in Canada.

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#10 Sigourney Weaver’s High School Yearbook Photo And Quote In 1967. “Please, God, Please, Don’t Let Me Be Normal.”

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#11 Photo By Louise Dahl-Wolf, 1939

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Despite the venerable age of some of these cameras, they were still a highly niche product, expensive, unwieldy, and annoying to use. Drawing and painting were considerably easier solutions if you wanted to depict a portrait, plus then you could easily “improve” the image of yourself, which no doubt many rich folk did. 

#12 Bunny Yeager · Self-Portrait

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#13 La Policemen Disguise Themselves As Women To Catch A Purse-Snatcher In The 1960s

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#14 Pulitzer-Prize-Winning Journalist Murray Kempton. He Never Learned To Drive

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Another issue was the need for a specialist to handle the camera and the materials to produce the picture. At best, most people of the time saw cameras as a weird niche machine that made blurry, black-and-white images, which tended to not be particularly durable or strong compared to most alternative visual mediums of the time. 

#15 Ms Nora Washington With Catfish She Caught—-With A Cane Pole, No Less—-In The Colorado River, Bastrop, Texas 1950’s

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#16 Polka Dotted Beach Pajamas, Deauville – 1930’s

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#17 Coal Miner’s Wife And Three Of Their Children. Company House In Pursglove, Scotts Run, West Virginia, September 1938

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A major breakthrough was the invention of mass-produced film and 35mm film in particular. Multiple brands and inventors based cameras around this film, allowing for “regular people” to more easily take and process photos. While not dirt cheap, an average working person could buy a camera and supply it with film if they really wanted to. 

#18 Daisy Bikini In

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#19 1940s…..i Would Love To Know What’s Going On…..her Joy Is Infectiou

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#20 Marlon Brando, A Cat Lover, Once Declared, “I Live In My Cat’s House”

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Soon photographs were no longer a novelty, but a staple, as newspapers began to print images. Just a few decades ago, Polaroid came out with the very first instant image cameras, cutting out the wait period between taking photos and the negatives being developed. While the quality was not amazing, it’s a far cry from the multi-hour waits associated with cameras in a previous era. 

#21 Jackie Kennedy Mannequin, New York, 1961

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#22 Audrey Hepburn Photographed By Art Zelin On The Streets Of New York, 1990

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#23 NY Public Library Bookmobile – Bronx, 1950

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While amateur photographers could easily document anything they could capture, professionals had already learned how to edit and manipulate images. This practice existed long before digital images, photoshop, and filters, going all the way back to the 20th century, when photographers would “insert” their work into paintings or create a “montage” of multiple images. 

#24 Brando Attends The Funeral Of Black Panther Bobby Hutton, Oakland, 1968

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#25 Before The Parachute

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#26 A Couple Of Students Hang Out In Their College Dorm Room At The University Of Illinois In 1910

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Despite its age, photography is still considered a new medium, as it still requires an interplay between the human creator and technology. While the photographer can choose how to frame what they take, they can’t manipulate or control the image nearly as much as an artist, painter or sculptor can. 

#27 Priscilla Presley With Her Boyfriend Mike Stone In 1975

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#28 A Contest On Who Had The Prettiest Legs. Cliftonville, England 1936

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#29 Jane Evelyn Atwood: Paris Red Light 1976–1979 Pigalle, Paris, 1978

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With the advent of the smartphone, the entire plant can take and share images faster than ever, so when you are snapping your next pic, be grateful for the machine in your pocket. If you have been enjoying this collection of vintage photos so far, why stop? Bored Panda has other articles on old images that you can check out. Alternatively, feel free to look through our article taking old photos of a location and comparing it to what it looks like now. 

#30 Delivering Newspapers In Mexico City, 1977, By Frans Stoppelman

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#31 “Invisible Dad, Result Of War” By Evaldas Ivanauskas 1926

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#32 The Zoot Suit, Ca. 1940s

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#33 They Always Said To Put A Tiger In Your Tank. Glad They Put Them On The Roof This Time

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#34 Dapper Deputy Dawg

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#35 Newly Completed World Trade Centre 1973

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#36 Bob Dylan And Suze Rotolo, Greenwich Village, New York City, 1963 / Photo By Don Hunstein

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#37 The Original Ronald Mcdonald Photographed Here In The 1970s. You’re Welcome. Sweet Dreams

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#38 Old School Bike Life Family

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#39 Mia Farrow C. 1964

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#40 Violinista Con Perro / Violinist With Dog, Ca 1933, Alfonso Sánchez Portela. Spanish (1902 – 1990)

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#41 Girl Talk At The Corner Of East End Avenue And 81st Street, NYC, 1950’s

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#42 A Covey Of Young Nerds Compete For The *national ‘Space Invaders’ Championship, *hosted By Atari – NYC, 1980

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#43 Ladies At The Gateways Club In Chelsea, London

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#44 Found This On Another Site …atlantic City 1939

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#45 1942

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#46 Kristen M. Shared This Photo From 1978. She Says This Is What Her Life Was Like Having Big Brothers

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#47 London Children And Dog….. Approx 1955

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#48 At The Caramel Club, Paris, 1963 (Pierre Parente)

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#49 1944 – Flirting: A Young Women Flaunts Her Charm While Sipping A Milkshake With Some Teenage Boys

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#50 Aboriginal Boy With Kangaroo Pet, Australia National Geographic | October 1955

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#51 Bar Los Siete Espejos (Bar Of Seven Mirrors), Valparaiso, Chile, 1963

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#52 An Interior View Of The Mess Hall Showing Convicts At Dinner In The Ohio State Penitentiary Located In Columbus, Ohio

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#53 This High School Girl Has The Jean Jacket And Hair Style That Were Popular In The ’70s

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#54 Battersea Fun Fair, London, England C.1952

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#55 Young Women Sitting At The Bar, Cuba 1950s

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#56 Diane Arbus, “Woman With Eyeliner”, N.y.c., 1964

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#57 Charleston, Sc, Photo By Baldwin Lee, 1984

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#58 Walking To Work Along Spring Garden Road. Feb 1960

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#59 The Maryhill Olympics, Glasgow 1980

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#60 Here Is A Woman With Three Young Girls, Out For A Stroll, In Manhattan’s Madison Square Park In 1905

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#61 Paying By Check

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#62 Brando Attends The Funeral Of Black Panther Bobby Hutton, Oakland, 1968

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#63 The Ford Model Line Up, 1966. (Ford Modeling Agency, That Is.)

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#64 Masahisa Fukase Yoko 1970’s

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#65 Girl Learning Photography And Cinema In Bali, 1934

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#66 Country Wedding, Seine Et Marne, France 1960s, Photo By Yves Troispoux

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#67 Marilyn Monroe Attends The Premiere Of The Film “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof”, 1955

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#68 12-Year-Old Freddie Mercury At St Peter’s Boys School – Panchgani, India, 1958

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#69 Woody Guthrie At Mcsorley’s Old Ale House In 1943

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#70 Untitled Taken In Pittsburgh, 1955

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#71 June 1938. “Butter Bean Vines Across The Porch. Negro Quarter In Memphis, Tennessee.”

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#72 The Old Cincinnati Library, Before It Was Demolished In 1955

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#73 The International Sweethearts Of Rhythm, The Pioneering All-Girl Jazz-Swing Group, With Bandleader Anna Mae Winburn, 1940s

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#74 Romance Is In The Air At Scandinavia’s Most Popular Dance Club, Nalen, In Stockholm, 1956. Photo By John Firth

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#75 Packaging Olives For A&p (George Skadding. 1949)

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#76 Photograph By Martin Parr, From His Book Bad Weather, 1982, Kenmare Fair, Kenmare, Ireland

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#77 Washing Day India, C. 1920’s

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#78 Fred With Tires From The Body Shop Series, 1984 By Herb Ritts

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#79 1962 – Anne Bancroft And Pattyduke In A Still From “The Miracle Worker”

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#80 Angie Dickinson And Director Howard Hawks On The Set Of Rio Bravo (1959)

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