Matthew B. Brady begins making portraits of the celebrities of his time. 1848 C. F. A. Niepce de Saint-Victor uses albumen on glass plates for producing negatives. Maxime Du Camp travels to Egypt to photograph its monuments. 1851 Talbot demonstrates the first split-second photography, taking a picture of printed paper as it revolves on a wheel. Talbot patents a process that will become the forerunner of half-tone reproduction and photogravure.
Swiss police begin collecting mug shots of criminals.
Recent browser versions will support samples of Muybridge's photography, animated by your computer. It's all pretty quaint however.