Garimo,
You are correct. I was using the agreed upon (by historians, I guess) starting
date of 1839, for the beginning of photography. This is the date used when
the 150th anniversary was celebrated in 1989. Neipce was dead when Daguerre
made his first successful plate in 1837. It was "fixed" in NaCl. Although
Niepce's son was supposed to be working with Daguerre.
Talbot definatly preceeded Daguerre. In my opinion, he should be credited
with the first practical process but its his own fault for not publishing.
Today, his dated notebooks would be used as evidence that he was first, but
maybe things were different then.
As to the first "practical" method, I think that translates into the first
commercially practical method that could be used for something ordinary
people though important i.e. portraits.
When I was teaching photography I always made mention of the above points.
In defense of the French, lets not forget that the French government
bought the process from Daguerre and Neipce (via lifetime pensions) and
gave it to the world. Talbot patented his discovery after the 1839
announcement. In a matter of months after the announcement of the Daguerre
process and publication, daguerreotypes were being made in England and
in the USA as well as in many other countries.
Bob Schramm
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