The First Ever “Selfie”

The word "selfie" may be a 21st-century invention, but self-portraits go back to the beginning of photography. Metal plater and amateur chemist Robert Cornelius was mentioned in The Wonderful World of Early Photography as the one who took the first human photographic portrait in 1839 using the new daguerreotype method -and it was a portrait of himself.

Cornelius had set his camera up at the back of the family store in Philadelphia. He took the image by removing the lens cap and then running in to frame where he sat for a minute before covering up the lens again. On the back he wrote “The first light Picture ever taken. 1839.”

Advances in photography that led to shorter exposure times made this simple method of taking a selfie pretty much impossible until the development of the timer.  -via Open Culture


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If you're interested, there's quite a controversy as to whether Niepcé or Henry Fox Talbot was the first to create a photograph. After Niepcé announced his invention, Talbot revealed a process which he claimed to have developed in 1834. He had no real evidence to back up his claim, however, so it is generally regarded as unproven. He is, however, acknowledged as the creator of the photographic negative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fox_Talbot
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I understand, and I appreciate the care you obviously take with the composition of your posts. It wasn't so much the 'portrait' issue I was addressing as the photographer's own notion that it was the first photograph, or "light picture". Maybe it was the first HE claimed to know about; but then, where would he have gotten the technology? Or perhaps he meant HIS first light picture. One thing is certain: We'll never know for sure! Thanks for the clarification.
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While this image could certainly be considered the first selfie (*gag*), it is not the first picture of a human being and certainly not the first "light picture". That honour belongs to Nicéphore Niepcé, with his "View from the window at Le Gras".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras
The first known photograph of a person is from 1838, by Joseph-Louis Daguerre. It is of the Boulevard du Temple in Paris, and shows a street scene devoid of people except for an unknown gentleman standing and having his shoes shined. He was the only one in the scene standing still long enough to be captured by the nearly 10-minute exposure.
http://petapixel.com/2010/10/27/first-ever-photograph-of-a-human-being/
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I'm 54% Bionic :p I can't type at the best of times, plus the keyboard on screen seemed to be off my keys by a space! Anyhoo, anyone interested in the new show?
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Bah, I'm 52% bionic ... got a 100% on that 'hearing' test but flubbed the blasted "running" test utterly! Still that was rather fun, huzzah for my inadequately organic components =P

And anybody who introduces themselves by relating what books and comics they've read recently seems pretty danged good to me (actually I'm currently trying to get into Chia Mellville's Perdito Street Station myself, I get the feeling I -will- enjoy it if I manage to get through the first chapter ...) anyway, hello! =)
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Perdido Street Station was the first book I read by him, and I found the first 200 pages or so painfully slow. In fact, I put it aside for a month or two. Eventually (and thankfully) I went back to it. It really picks up. The Scar is fantastic and the third book in the series was also very good (although a bit too blatantly communist for my taste).
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I got exactly 75% on the 8th try. Some hints are to write down the asdf order and the pic stuff, and for the keyboard hunt and peck works. I got 100% on the running one and 75% on the math.

I unlocked a short video. The bionic woman turns around while in a dark alley to see a thug come out. She begins to assess him with her bionic eye with a split screen effect (left side is regular/right side is bionic assessment). Her assessment show a knife in his right hand. He walks toward her and asks if she is looking for something. He slashes at her and she grabs his hand, knocks the knife up into the air, knocks thug onto his back, catches knife out of air, and puts it to thug's neck. This is done quickly in a fluid motion but not so fast as to not catch it.

I tried to get a better score to see if it would unlock more or better stuff, but I couldn't.
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I was 77% bionic on my first try. What I got was pretty lame--4 second clip of two people stuck in an elevator with alarms and "security breach" blaring in the background. I don't think either of them was even the Bionic Woman.
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If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'. And I got about 55% four straight times before deciding to write stuff down.

I went back and did it again. After getting 82%, I unlocked another short video. One guy turns to another and asks how long til she's combat ready. The other replies that she's a civilian. That was it two whole lines.
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Haha, I got 68%... On my first try... No cheating.

Do I get a cookie?

I messed up the hearing thing, but I got 75% straight for the first 3 tests...
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I can't get past the first test... I've been able to touch type since I was about ten years old. I can type faster than I can talk, and I never need to check my hands to see what I'm typing. So having to completely relearn a whole new keyboard layout is so confusing...
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I hope the show lasts more than a few episodes; I've seen the pilot and it's suprisingly good. There are a lotta folks from the new Battlestar Galactica involved with it, and who would've thought that show could be good?
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