Thursday, June 4, 2009

First Presidential Photograph

I just had to post this photograph. It isn't my own but it is the first Presidential photo ever taken. It is of James K. Polk by Matthew Brady.



"The first photograph of a U.S. president was taken on this week in 1849 — when James K. Polk, America’s 11th president, posed for his picture just before the end of his term in office. The photographer was Matthew Brady, whose extensive coverage of the Civil War would later make him famous. Today, 173,000 Americans make their living as photographers."U.S. Census Bureau

Daguerreotype by Matthew B. Brady, February 14, 1849

Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division




5 comments:

Annie Jeffries said...

Love seeing this Mary. Thanks for sharing.

kayerj said...

is it from the net, or did you scan it? It is an awesome picture.

Mo and The Purries said...

That's very cool.
I know you probably don't watch "Make Me A Supermodel" but for their last challenge last night, the remaining 3 models got their picture taken with a huge ancient polaroid camera - one of only 3 left in existence. Cool photographs. The point of this story? I thought about Matthew Brady when I saw that camera, and here you do a post about him. Just interesting to me.
Cheers,
mo

PJ said...

Real sepia, I'm going to study it, see what I can learn. Nice gift, thanks, Miss Mary.

Don Wood said...

Nice one I am just reading a book about photography history and then find this blog perhaps I best do some real research cheers Don