World Photography Day, celebrated on August 19th each year, is an international event that honours the art, craft, science, and history of photography. It is a day for photographers, both professional and amateur, to reflect on their work, share their passion, and celebrate their contributions to the world of visual storytelling.
The date marks the anniversary of the invention of the daguerreotype, an early photographic process developed by Louis Daguerre in 1839, which was the first publicly announced photographic process (discussed in more detail in the Top Local Guides in each Country (November 2023 post). The French government purchased the patent and announced the invention as a gift “free to the world.” This event is considered a pivotal moment in the history of photography.
World Photography Day encourages people to capture moments, experiment with photography, and share their images with the world. It’s also a time to appreciate the impact of photography on society, from documenting historical events to capturing everyday life. Photography has the power to evoke emotions, tell stories, and connect people across the globe, and as all of us Local Guides know, in more ways than one 
In celebration of World Photography Day 2024, in this post I’d like to acknowledge the great work done by millions of Local Guides (Local Heroes) across the world who capture moments, and images of the places they visit and the experiences they have and share these on Google Maps for the benefit of others. The Leaderboards and in particular the Photo and Video leaderboards that I have been posting here on Connect for some four years now, feature some of these Local Guides. The table below lists a sample of these top Local Guides, each having over a billion views from the photos they have contributed to Maps and this I believe gives us a real appreciation of the impact of the photography of Local Guides on their local communities. Hats off to each and every one of you true local heroes.
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Billion Photo Views Club 2024 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun |
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No |
Local Guide |
LG |
Photo Views |
|
1 |
10 |
15,177,575,771 |
|
|
2 |
@TorM * |
10 |
5,878,956,527 |
|
3 |
10 |
2,705,510,247 |
|
|
4 |
@TimgĂĽr |
10 |
2,466,544,003 |
|
5 |
10 |
2,235,457,391 |
|
|
6 |
10 |
2,177,788,105 |
|
|
7 |
10 |
2,151,578,992 |
|
|
8 |
@JordanSB |
10 |
1,958,379,397 |
|
9 |
10 |
1,913,939,479 |
|
|
10 |
10 |
1,627,940,645 |
|
|
11 |
10 |
1,620,896,494 |
|
|
12 |
10 |
1,514,636,887 |
|
|
13 |
10 |
1,359,162,138 |
|
|
14 |
10 |
1,315,967,328 |
|
|
15 |
7 |
1,111,204,672 |
|
|
16 |
9 |
1,058,538,871 |
|
|
17 |
10 |
1,055,196,860 |
|
Edited: You got me thinking!
@JustJake and @rosanabtl your comments got me thinking!
What if the French government hadn’t purchased the patent for the daguerreotype and announced it as a gift “free to the world”! My guess is that the course of photography’s development could have been significantly different. Here are a couple of possibilities:
1. Restricted Access and Slower Innovation
Limited Access to Technology: If Louis Daguerre or another entity had retained the patent and commercialized the daguerreotype, access to the technology would likely have been limited to those who could afford it. This could have slowed the global spread of photography, making it a niche pursuit rather than a widely accessible form of art and documentation.
Slower Technological Advancements: With fewer people able to experiment with and improve upon the technology, advancements in photographic techniques and equipment might have taken much longer. Innovations like film photography, colour photography, and eventually digital photography could have been delayed, impacting everything from journalism to personal documentation and even to Local Guides!
2. Alternative Photographic Processes Dominating
Dominance of Alternative Processes: If the daguerreotype had remained proprietary, other early photographic processes, such as the calotype (invented by William Henry Fox Talbot), might have gained more prominence. The calotype, which involved a different method of creating photographic images, allowed for multiple copies of a photograph, unlike the single image produced by a daguerreotype. This could have led to a different path in the evolution of photography, with different techniques and aesthetics dominating the early years.
Different Aesthetic and Cultural Influences: The widespread availability of the daguerreotype helped shape the early visual culture of photography, particularly in portraiture. If another process had been more widely adopted, the aesthetics and cultural significance of photography might have developed differently, possibly influencing everything from art to journalism in ways we can only speculate about.
In essence, without the French government’s decision to make the daguerreotype freely available, photography might have evolved more slowly, with different processes and innovations taking center stage. The widespread democratization of photography, which allowed it to become a universal medium for communication and creativity, could have been delayed or taken an entirely different path.
On this World Photography Day, I do hope that you join me and reflect on your work, sharing your photography and visual storytelling passion, and celebrate your contributions to the world as a Maps Local Guide. Congratulations to everyone and I do hope that you are proud of your photography contributions.
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