The First Photograph Ever Taken of a Human Being my . The image of the Boulevard du Temple in Paris, taken by Louis Daguerre in 1838 or 1839, is believed to be the first photograph ever taken of a human being. Due to the long exposure time (several minutes), all moving objects, such as carriages and people, vanished from the frame. However, in the bottom left, a man having his boots shined and the shoeshiner remained still just long enough to be faintly captured by the camera. This landmark mome