I am a trained photographer, have worked as chief photographer of a research institute, taught photography for many years, and have had hundreds of photographs published and/or exhibited. My talk covers the history of photography from ca. 1800 to ca. 1900, an era which saw the merging of optical imaging instruments with chemical methods of rendering the image permanent. This resulted in an explosion of photography for recording the natural and built environment, people, everyday life and technological processes. This is illustrated throughout with examples of the processes used and the resulting photographic images.