Photography is an affection, a desire and an addiction. It's impossible to explain why people love taking photos, but once people get into photography professionally, there's no stopping them. It has always been a great, magical and momentous secret that opens the world to people, that makes us look at things once taken for granted with a special attitude, that makes us think about existing problems. Photography can truly be considered an act of magic: here is a small black box that can capture images of people and wildlife, strange places and loved ones on a rectangular sheet of paper that can be viewed for days and years later. It is a visual trick that never ceases to delight the audience, the magician in particular (Watson 78). Photography not only depicts life, it also reveals things that are usually hidden behind our indifference, our affairs and our pursuit of money. The word photography comes from two ancient Greek words: photo, for “light,” and graphic, for “drawing” (the History of Photography). “Drawing with light” is an apt way to describe the artistic field of photography. According to world-renowned photographer Ansel Adams, “you don’t take a photo, you create it.” Whenever a photograph is taken, light or another form of radiant energy, such as x-rays, is used to record the image of an object or scene on a light-sensitive surface at a precise moment (Watson 79). In the early days of photography, these recorded images were called solar images or heliographs. This is because sunlight was used to create the image. Humanity has been recording images since cave paintings around 20,000 years ago. With the invention of photography, a realistic image that would have taken...... middle of paper ......ain - thus giving you the ability to experiment with your photos in a way that would not have never been possible with film. camera. Now, most of the processing is electronic in the form of 0s and 1s, as opposed to the mechanical and chemical operations of traditional cameras. Cameras that work on this principle are called digital cameras and the art of creating digital images is called digital photography. Works Cited “Digital Photography”. Digital - Photography - Advice. Internet. February 18, 2011. http://www.digital-photography-tips.net/history-of-digital-phtography-early-days.html. “History of photography.” About the inventors. About.com, Web. February 17, 2011. http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventionsa/stillphotography.html. “What is digital photography?” » Take advantage of. Internet. February 16, 2011. www.makeuseof.com/tag/technology-explained-digital-photography/.