Home

So I’m perusing Yahoo and glancing at the news headlines and what have you and one of their featured stories was this, about a very early photograph found that shows humans.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101027/od_yblog_upshot/very-early-photographic-images-of-humans-discovered

The article itself is very interesting if you’re interested in photography and the history of photography (or just history in general). The earliest known photo of a human is from 1838. The photo in this article was taken in 1848. What’s got me in an uproar is the stupid comments people post. I mean, seriously, people are idiots! And they have access to computers and they post comments on news stories on Yahoo!

Here’s a fine sampling of the collective IQ on commenters on Yahoo…

“Please look at the human figures very close. Why is it that it appears that you can see all the way though both figures. I belive that we maybe looking at 2 ghost here. Anything is possible you know.”

“whats so important about this picture i mean its just some ppl like they have never seen them before”

“this is a non-story”

“Why is this rellevant?”

You mean relevant? Well lemme tell ya why!!

For those who know nothing of the history of photography, even in the most general of terms, this is an interesting find. Early photographs were mostly of stationary objects for a reason, as it took several minutes for the images to expose on the photographic surfaces being used at the time (ie, metal).  Most folks back then, and probably most of us even now,  would not want to sit still for several minutes for their picture to be taken (I believe exposure time in early photography was upwards of 10 minutes, or longer).

That’s why this is relevant. The two people at the river’s edge there had to have been standing there for several minutes while the picture was being taken. They appear ghost like because they didn’t stay put during the entire exposure time, but long enough for them to show just enough on the film.  

Have you ever seen an old photograph, from the Civil War and after, of people and they aren’t smiling? You think things were really depressing and dire back then right? In many ways they were but the real reason why people didn’t smile in those early photos was because the exposure time was so long. Think about it. Could you hold a smile for 10 minutes or more for a picture?

Thus, I end my complete and total rant against humanity.