14 DAY TRIAL // A self-portrait taken by Philadelphian photographer Robert Cornelius about 175 years ago is believed to be the world's oldest “selfie.”
Although the word “selfie” has been introduced in the dictionary only recently, people have been doing self-portraits for a long time.
Robert Cornelius, an American pioneer of photography, took this old photo using a rather primitive camera – a Daguerreotype invented by a Frenchman called Louis Daguerre in 1838. The photographer had to first remove the cover on the lens and then position himself in front of the camera, but the result is quite impressive.
According to the Mirror, the image was captured in October 1838 in the yard behind Robert family's lamp store in Philadelphia. The Library of Congress, which holds an online catalog of Prints and Photographs, estimates young Cornelius had to remain in this position for between 3 and 15 minutes, depending on the intensity of the light during the exposure.
On the back of the photo, Robert wrote “The first light picture ever taken. 1839.”
Between 1841 and 1843, Robert Cornelius operated two of the earliest photographic studios in the U.S., but eventually closed them and preferred to work at his family's gas and lighting company.