The history of photography in Iran dates back to the reign of Nasser-al-Din Shah. The presentations of this era featured the traditional lifestyle of that time, and the illumination of that era for the historical studies of the nineteenth century has been documented by Iranian experts.
Iranian photographers at that time consist of three major groups due to practicing their art for marketing in Iran:
1. Photographers who work on research on the cultural and natural differences between the various ethnic groups and belonged to the European scientific and geographic explorations which were mostly popular in European market rather than Iranian market.
2. Indigenous photographers who were experimenting with new technical discoveries for fun without any specific purpose. This type of photos was not made for marketing in Iran or any specific market.
3. Professional photographers who earn money by selling photos in Iranian market and they have tried to expand their business through marketing in Iran especially in larger markets such as Isfahan, Tehran and so on.
The first photographers in Iran were from France, Austria, and Italy who taught at the Darul-Fonon School in Tehran. The Technical and Vocational School was established by Amir Kabir to train officers, civilian and military engineers, physicians and translators. Ten years later, in 1860, photography was added to Darul-Fonoun's programs. The Frenchman Joule Rishar was probably the first foreigner to print a photo in Iranian market, who traveled to Iran from about 1846-1846, and he started to teach French at the Darloufenon School.
The first collection of photographs of Iranian historical monuments was prepared by the Louisiana colonel of the Naples during immigration to Iran. The second edition of this collection was prepared in the same year and sent to William I. King of Prussia. The first collection was found in a private collection in Rome later. Another album, donated to the New York Metropolitan Museum, containing 75 pieces of photos, is probably the same album that was sent to the Prussian King. Originally owned by Ardeshir Mirza, this album was Fath Ali's grandsons. The donor of the album believed that the Peshe is one of the few photographers in which the collection was compiled. The Metropolitan Album includes a number of subjects, including:
• Ceremonial palaces
• Mosques
• Urban gates
• Government and Residential Buildings
• Monuments
• Bridges
• Historical sites
There are also pictures of court shows and important government events that reflect the glory of the Qajar. The album also includes two paintings pictures: One portrait is Fath-Ali Shah and a military march. In the middle of the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah (1290-1300 AH), after the second visit of Shah to Europe, some of the companions of the Shah briefed information on photography at the time of the emergence of photography, the technical limitation issues of photography caused taking images as slow as it could be. Among the pictures in the Italian album, with the signature of the Peshe were two views of the gates of the city, the Golestan Palace, the works of the Imam of Persia and the role of Rustam and Taq Bastan with a poetic atmosphere.
The oldest photographs of this album were taken between 1852 and 1855. The other photographic collection, quoted in the Qajar period, belongs to the famous photographer of the Toronto Louisiana Montauban. This is a collection of sixty-two pieces of photos that have been collected in three albums and in different sections just not for marketing in Iran. He came to Iran with a political delegation, and Nasser al-Din Shah repeatedly referred to him as Akkasbashi. His portraiture of historic places of Iran at the Harris World Exhibition in 1867 is an illustration of a historic document that illustrates the livelihood of people and courtiers, although there are no women in these pictures, but men of various classes of the community have a distinct presence and hierarchy. Their social status is fully illustrated by how they are portrayed in the image.
Iranian first photographer
Some scholars in the history of photography in Iranian market considered Shahid Malek Ghasem Mirza the first Iranian photographer to work by means marketing in Iran. From the beginning of Iranian photography, the promise and support of Naser-al-Din Shah Qajar was high due to his great interest in this art.
"Francis Carlejian" a French photographer, was accompanied by Farrokh Khan Amin al-Dawla to study and promote photography in Iran for marketing in Iran and for documenting the moments. In his diary, Etemad al-Saltanah has repeatedly referred to Shah's photography. There are also many photos in the Golestan Palace House album taken by Nasser-al-Din Shah.
Aqa Reza Akasbashi, Hassan Ali Photographer, Mousof Afshar Photographer, Amir Jalil Al-Dawlah Qajar, Mirza Ahmad Sana'-al-Saltanah, Abolqasem Ibn Muhammad Taqi Nouri, Mirza Ibrahim Khan Photasbashi, Antoine Khan Suroyugin and Abdullah Qajar are among the most prolific and famous photographers of the Qajar era whom may had business purposes of photography in Iranian market. Their works are among the most remarkable collections of the Qajar era.
The First Public Photographer in Iranian market
At the beginning of the prevalence of photography in Iran, the first photographic library in the Golestan Palace was created under the command of Nasir al-Din Shah and was created for private and public affairs in the courtroom, where everyone did not go there. But after some time, the first photographic library for public use was established under the command of Naser-al-Din Shah in Tehran in 1285 due to marketing in Iran. The opening of photographers' houses in Tehran and other major cities of Iran such as Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, Tabriz and Rasht increased. Al-Saltanah's trust in his book, which dates back to forty years of political, cultural and social activities of the Nasserite era, has written a large number of photographers and photojournalists in Tehran and many other cities in Iran.