The history of photography dates back to the 1800s, when French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce used a pinhole camera to capture an image on a pewter plate coated with a light-sensitive chemical. Up to that point, these pinhole cameras, called camera obscura, were only capable of projecting an image without actually capturing it. However, it wasn't until George Eastman invented the film camera in 1880 that anyone but only the wealthy were capable of taking photographs.
By the 1940s, many people owned cameras and were taking pictures of friends, family, and the world around them. The industry took off, as did the artform. By the time the 1950s rolled around, photography studios were everywhere and black and white photographic prints hung on the walls of every house.