Since the dawn on human History, pictoral imagery has been a very powerful commodity. It is the basis of writen languages, for example the Egyptian Hyeroglyph and the Chinese pictograph, We have the ability to associate images with ideas and memories. This has been the foundation of progress and the repository of the past.

     Down thru history, those who can provide imagery, have been rewarded. For the early cavemanwho had the skill to paint on the cave wall, it may have been an extra-marrow bone. Michael Angelo was paid by a Pope for the Sistine Chapel. Andy Warholl got outragious sums for a painting of tomato Soup. Now, I like tomoto soup, but really.   

     The first Photographers took their cameras to the farthest reaches of the Earth, to obtain images of the great unknown. The equiptment was heavy akward and developing a picture was a complicated process. Photos were taken to commemorate every great occasion. Photographers opened shop in every large city. Photography was a small business initially with most studios employing just a few people. With greater popularity, came more photographers. Eventually technology developed allowing indviduals to have their own cameras. Developing was still the pervue of the proffessional.