The first successful photoetching was done in 1822, by a French inventor. He created the first surviving camera photograph in either 1826 or 1827, titled the "View from the Window at Le Gras"
The word photography is derived from Greek words meaning 'drawing with light'. The word 'photographie' was used in private notes in 1834, but the first time it was known to be published was in an 1839 article in a German newspaper. Camera principles were first explored by the ancient Chinese philosopher Mo Di. Greek mathematicians as far back as the 5th century BCE mentioned pinhole cameras. The first attempt to capture an image with a light sensitive substance was done in approximately 1800s by Thomas Wedgwood.