First Times / First Photos

What is a first image? A proof? A test? An achievement? A failure? An event? A memento, or perhaps a spark? A playful and erudite journey through two hundred years of major and minor photographic innovations, this book is a collection of “firsts.” Snapshots, scoops, images that have never been seen before, unpublished photos, “front-page” pictures, the oldest image, and so on — these “firsts” are technical, aesthetic, scientific, and societal in nature, ranging from the first experiments conducted by photography’s pioneers to recent images of stars being born in the primordial universe, from the first remotely transmitted pictures to the first louse in the history of photography. At the heart of the book, photographers tell of their first photo, while shots of “firsts,” both great and small, recall the connection between photography and the cult of the new.

The exhibition also gives a voice to iconic photographers who recount “their first times” in images and, through them, their introduction to photography.

Alberto Vieceli , Boris Mikhailov , Cristina de Middel , Edouard Boubat , Henri Cartier-Bresson , Joan Fontcuberta , Julia Margaret Cameron , Luce Lebart , Martin Parr , Richard Billingham.

Pages: 268
Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Year: 2026
Publisher: Spector Books