August 19th is World Photography Day. On that day in 1939 the French government presented the first photographic process acquired from Louis Daguerre in exchange for a lifetime pension. Louis Daguerre developed a technology that captures an image on a bright mirror-like surface of metallic silver. The inventor continued the work of photochemist Joseph Niepce, whose original aim was to reproduce prints and drawings for lithography. After Niepce's death in 1933, Daguerre continued to research which eventually brought result.

Masters of photography and their works throughout the 175 years' history of photography in this gallery by ITAR-TASS.