In June, all eyes turn to National Camera Day, celebrating snapshots with fascinating facts about cameras. Brownieland Pictures Founding Partner and Director of Photography, Randy Frostig shares insights on this holiday.

“June 29th is National Camera Day, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than to honor the most ubiquitous of photos, the selfie.

Who took the first selfie? No, it wasn’t Paris Hilton, as she claimed back in 2017.

The first “selfie” is usually credited to Robert Cornelius, who back in 1839 took a self-portrait outside his family store. Cornelius took the photo by taking off the lens cap and running into the frame, sitting still for roughly 10 to 15 minutes.

Now you may ask when was the first handheld selfie taken? That honor goes to five photographers who worked for the Byron Company, a photography studio based in Manhattan. In December 1920, the gentlemen posed for the photo on the roof of a building. It took two men to hold the camera due to its weight. What really makes this story noteworthy is that the Byron descendants still operate the studio to this day!”