The History and Origins of War Photography

War photography involves photographing armed conflict and its effects on people and places. Photographers who participate in this genre may find themselves placed in harm's way, and are sometimes killed trying to get their pictures out of the war arena.

Origins and Technical Challenges

With the invention of photography in the 1830s, the possibility of capturing the events of war to enhance public awareness was first explored. Although ideally photographers would have liked to accurately record the rapid action of combat, the technical insufficiency of early photographic equipment in recording movement made this impossible. Specifically, the daguerreotype, an early form of photography that generated a single image using a silver-coated copper plate, took a very long time for the image to develop and could not be processed immediately. Since early photographers were not able to create images of moving subjects, they recorded more sedentary aspects of war, such as fortifications, soldiers, and land before and after battle along with the re-creation of action scenes. In order to produce a photograph, the subject had to be perfectly still for a matter of minutes, so they were posed to be comfortable and minimize movement.

First Captured Conflicts

The Mexican-American War was the first one to be captured by a camera. A number of daguerreotypes were taken of the occupation of Saltillo during the Mexican–American War, in 1847 by an unknown photographer, although not for the purpose of journalism. The photographs do not show the wounded, dead bodies, nor live combat zones, with no glorification of warfare being evident. What they do show are portraits of military men, landscapes, street scenes, and post-battle burial grounds.

Regarding specific individuals, John McCosh, a surgeon in the Bengal Army, is considered by some historians to be the first war photographer known by name. He produced a series of photographs documenting the Second Anglo-Sikh War from 1848 to 1849. He also photographed local people and architecture, artillery emplacements and the destructive aftermath. McCosh later photographed the Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852–53) where he photographed colleagues, captured guns, temple architecture in Yangon and Burmese people.

Establishment of Official War Photography

The first official attempts at war photography were made by the British government at the start of the Crimean War. In March 1854, Gilbert Elliott was commissioned to photograph views of the Russian fortifications along the coast of the Baltic Sea. However, Roger Fenton was the first official war photographer and the first to attempt a systematic coverage of war for the benefit of the public. Hired by Thomas Agnew, he landed at Balaclava in 1854.

Due to the size and cumbersome nature of his photographic equipment, Fenton was limited in his choice of motifs. His photographs were probably intended to offset the general aversion of the British people to the war's unpopularity, and to counteract the occasionally critical reporting of correspondent William Howard Russell. Because the photographic material of his time needed long exposures, he was only able to produce pictures of stationary objects, mostly posed pictures.

Chronology of Early War Photography

• 1847: Mexican-American War — First war captured by camera (unknown photographer).
• 1848–1849: Second Anglo-Sikh War — Photographed by John McCosh.
• 1849–1859: Roman Republic battles — Documented by Stefano Lecchi using the Calotype process.
• 1853–1854: Crimean War — Early scenes captured by Károly Szathmáry Papp.
• 1854: Crimean War — Roger Fenton begins systematic official coverage.