Notes:

This photograph is estimated to have been taken sometime around 1826-1827 by a Nicéphore Niépce. Before the creation of film (and certainly before the invention of what the common modern-day person describes to be a camera) a camera obscura (a special device used for tracing light displayed on a glass surface) had to be used to expose the plate. The plate was made of pewter, and was thinly coated with asphalt. Further experimentation concludes that the exposure had most likely taken days to complete.

Here's an enhanced version of the plate: