Cornelius’ First Light Picture, 1839

The Public Domain Review notes that people may tend to think of selfie images as a result of the rise of cell phone. However, the early pioneers of light-writing experimented under a variety of conditions where there were no quickly available models other than themselves.

Robert Cornelius was an amateur chemist/photographer who made the image below in 1839. As the story goes, he set up a camera in the family store, removed the lens cap, and hurried into the framing. After awhile, he hustled back to the camera, covered the lens, and proceeded to the developing and printing. On the back of the print, he noted "The first light Picture ever taken. 1839."

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/robert-cornelius-self-portrait-the-first-ever-selfie-1839

First Light Picture, 1839, Robert Cornelius (public domain)