Eighteen thirty-nine was the miraculous year in which the two principal inventors of photography--Daguerre in France and Fox Talbot in Great Britain--made their discoveries known to an eager and receptive public. News of the process flashed around the globe, and in no time enthusiastic pioneers from Auckland to Zanzibar were trying the new invention. Photography took root and flourished. It has since been used in a thousand ways and has changed our modes of perception in many more.

The Photographic Experience deals with episodes and issues relating to the spread and...