The emergence of the object referred to as the photograph is a recent event in the context of human history. It is the convergence of two phenomenon:

Inverted images are projected when light moves through an optical diaphragm, be it pinhole or lens, the effect is ancient: disks of the sun littering the ground below a tree, a dessert landscape projected into the tent of a Bedouin.

Secondly, certain compounds are chemically altered when exposed to light- even a tan is a sort of photograph.

The challenge to "fix" the image and not have it continue to change when exposed to the light used to observe it culminated in the image to the right. It is regarded as the first photograph and was created by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826.