Wyoming’s Oldest Known Photo

In modern times everybody's phone is a camera and video camera.

But way back when taking a photo was a lot of work.

Cameras, in most cases, were so big it might take a couple of men to handle them.

That's a lot of work to set up a shot.

Most old photos are lost to history.

What you see here is the oldest photo known to have been taken in Wyoming.

So many of these old photos show people hard at work, and this photo is no exception. According to the Library of Congress, this photo is of geologist John Wesley Powell and his fellow researchers as they prepared to explore part of the Grand Canyon in Wyoming. They definitely had a spectacular view! (BAZINGA).

This photo is so old that everyone in it is DEAD!

Sorry, but it's true.

It is interesting to see what people dressed like and what they were doing way back then.

Taking a photo was difficult.

Really, you have no idea.

To capture a perfect image of a person, nobody could move for a period of time.

Cameras back then did not have quick shutter speeds and processing like the ones we use today.

In many old photos, streets looked empty, with no people.

But that was only because everyone was moving and the camera could not capture them.

So in the picture that is said to be Wyoming's oldest known photo, the people in those boats were standing perfectly still until the photographer told them that it was okay to move again.

That's also why people in old photos never smiled.

They had to hold a pose for so long that it was easier to just let the face rest while the camera, and film, captured the image.

There are many photos of the old west that might give you a flavor of what life was like back then.

Try this video, below.

Then try to imagine what it must have been like to post for pictures like these.