The emergency of photography, as well as any other human invention, can be noticed two forces: the need to register a moment for the posterity and the human curiosity to create ‘the new’ and take another step towards the evolution. So much time has passed since the appearance of the first photographic record but we can still find similarities between portraits from the early days and today. In both past and today pictures, there is great artistic expression in a way to use art to represent the reality. Also, both portraits were/are driven by scientific and commercial forces, as stated in the Online Gallery ‘Historic Photographs’, once photograph has always been a tool for discoveries in which has always been invested resources for its development. 
On the other hand, the pictures today differ in several aspects from the past. The way pictures are produced are far from being ionized on silver surfaces (like Daguerreotype and others) or even using the Negative. Nowadays the portraits are focused on technology, speed and high quality. In the same aspect, the ease of producing a photo today weakened the high scientific aspect it was closed linked in the past, becoming an artistic record of everyday life of human beings and the world.
The photographer and subject to be photographed have changed during the years but somewhat still have kept their roots. The photographers in the past were most scientists who wanted to make new discoveries and uncover even more the human nature. The capture of spatial phenomena (e.g. Camera Obscura) and the record of everyday life within the home as well as profile pictures were the main target of their work.
Since evolution requires disassociation, photographers are now each one of us, anyone who wants to register the reality of their own point of view, anyone who sees a photograph not only as a serious and mandatory commitment to record features, but a record of a moment, a story behind a simple image. In the same context, we can say that much of this achievement is due to the technology for been promoting the evolution and development of techniques we got today. It is possible to record any moment, anywhere and anytime. Moreover, we can also ‘change, improve and multiply the moment’. The best of all is that the development of the photography is not going to stop soon. A new way to register the moment will arise and the human curiosity will never disappear.
Raul Ripardo
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