When was the first-ever photograph taken of a deer? The year might surprise you, as well the species of the deer that was photographed for the first time in the U.S.
It’s amazing how far photography has come in the past 25 years. When I started working here at D&DH, we relied 100% on color-slide images. I vividly recall the light-table-filing-cabinet we had in our offices. I would routinely put a loupe to my eye and view the latest submssions from the all-time great whitetail photographers: Leonard Lee Rue III, Charles J. Alsheimer, Mike Biggs, John Ford, Bill Kinney and many more.
It didn’t take long for slide images to be replaced by digital photos. Today, I’ve used numerous photos from my iPhone as two-page spreads on the pages of the magazine. Technology has advanced at such a fast pace that it’s easy to forget our roots.
First Photo of Any Kind
Photography, believe it or not, is not that old of an “art.” In fact, the earliest known photograph dates back to just 1826. During that year, French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, took that photograph, titled View from the Window at Le Gras, at his family’s country home. That is the earliest known photograph of mankind.
First Photo of An Animal
The first photograph of an animal dates back to The black-and-white image shows a cow resting beside a cart at a cattle market in Rome and has been dated to between April and July 1842.
First Photo of a Deer
But what about the first photograph of a deer? According to my research, the answer is 168 years ago, in 1854, somewhere in the Western United States. Unfortunately, the image was not that of the ever-popular whitetail but rather a black-tailed deer.
According to a museum run by Getty Images, the first known photo of a deer is the one shown here of a girl posing with a black-tailed deer somewhere in the Western U.S., possibly Washington state. This image was displayed at the J. Paul Getty Museum in 2015 during an exhibition called, “In Focus: Animalia.”
According to Getty: “Where in America was this charming study made? The animal, identified as a black-tailed deer, is found only in the Western states, while the girl’s dress, rugged and protective, suggests the harsh climate of the upper plains. The fenced enclosure may be a corral, with sturdy farm buildings out of focus in the background. Keeping the fawn still for the daguerreotype’s long exposure, with its head turned as if posing for the camera and its ears alertly upright, was a splendid achievement for the girl. The tin she holds undoubtedly contained some treat to reward the animal for its obedience.”