In today’s world, cameras are ubiquitous. What is a camera, and what do they do?  A camera is a tool many people find themselves incorporating into their daily lives. Whether you are adept at taking a picture of something to remember later or a photographer who has pursued this as a career. For both, this is a tool that is nearly unimaginable to live without. How is there such a mechanism which appeals to an audience, yet is equally of value to all users?

To convey such a fascinating history we would venture back to 400 B.C. in China in which the earliest camera was used. The first camera known in history was the camera obscura. Conceptual descriptions and depictions of a camera obscura can be studied in Chinese prints dating back to 400 B.C. and in the scripts of the Greek philosopher and math polyman Aristotle around 330 B.C. By 1,000 A.D.  the idea of a camera obscura was developed by the Arab Ibn Al-Haytham. Since then, had ever so evolved throughout the 1850s, designs and models were standardized. The latter half of the century was present for the advent of dry plates and roll-film. Fabricating a shift towards smaller and more cost-effective cameras, the most iconic symbolized by the original Kodak camera first introduced in 1888. From that point forward, the camera had a new era and a modern age.

This sparks the thought among many so why would I give the camera human qualities, write about it like it’s a note to a friend. This is because a camera declares it is an object or subject and for me, it is tremendously more than an object as it can be what you make it whether that be an artistic outlet, escape, best friend or even the best therapist you have had. A camera is like anything else in life. When you have an understanding of it, it gives you a clear and beautiful result on something that may seem ordinary. So for this, it is unfair to give it qualities as any other object, for it has eyes of its own and views the world in a perspective that varies with every time you take it out. This represents the power of the camera.