The First Photograph, or if we have to be more specific, the earliest known surviving photograph made in a camera, was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 or 1827. The photograph depicts the view from an upstairs window at Niépce’s estate, Le Gras, in the Burgundy region of France. This image was captured via a process known as heliography, which used Bitumen of Judea coated onto a piece of glass or metal; the Bitumen than hardened in proportion to the amount of light that hit it.