Chronologically arranged, each chapter focuses on a particular work or idea that changed the course of photography. Presented in beautiful spreads and with informative text, the book opens with photography's genesis in the form of the camera obscura. Centuries later, Daguerre, Niepce, and Talbot invented their own means of capturing light on paper. The book covers groundbreaking genres such as still life, landscape, portraiture and nudes. Sections on the role of photography in journalism illustrate how the camera's presence on battlefields, city streets, and factories helped inform and reform the modern world. Fashion, animals, surrealism, and staged portraits are also explored. Perfect for perusing or reading from cover to cover, this book illustrates how photography developed from a concept to a world-changing force — one that attempted to shed light on truth but which can also obscure and alter reality in dazzling ways.