Young Student Secretly Photographs People with Hidden Spy Cam in the 1890s

[FfFfFfFF 58,120]

These days, when it's so easy to sneak a hidden photo with your phone, we can forget just how unusual candid photography was during the 19th century. With technological limitation, our first photographs are mainly seated posed images that somehow give the impression that everyone in the 1800s was elegant and composed. But, thanks to one clever Norwegian student, we have a hidden glimpse of life in the 1890s.

Carl Størmer (1874-1957) was a young student of mathematics when he purchased his first hidden camera. It was so small that the lens fit through the buttonhole in his vest with a cord that led down to his pocket, allowing him to secretly snap away. In his biography for the Fellows of the Royal Society, he revealed it was actually a secret crush that led him toward photography.

“When he was a young man at Oslo University he fell in love with a lady whom he did not know and with whom he was too bashful to become acquainted,” writes his biographer. “Wishing at least to have a picture of her, he decided that this was possible only by taking a photograph of her himself, without her knowing.”

Source - https://www.facebook.com/mymodernmet/posts/were-used-to-photos-of-people-in-the-1800s-looking-stiff-and-posed-but-these-can/10159105955689299/

 

[Oriane 22,775]

I won't comment on the moral aspect of this but the photos look so cool!

[dynamite 66,647]

Oh wow I thought the first cameras were massive and didn't come out til the early 1900s 

[Neroneau 1,017]

Thanks for sharing!

[INNA 3,788]

11 minutes ago, Oriane said:

I won't comment on the moral aspect of this but the photos look so cool!

Just because they’re some old dusty Victorian people doesn’t mean they’re immune to big brother surveillance !!

[gothicdream 39,660]

Creepy premise but very cool photos! The fashion 

[weed 78,957]

Soooo amazing!! The quality is very impressive, so crisp for 130 years old

[Lilmonzter 2,864]

He's a trail blazer for so many pervs but they have also been used for good things so...Idk how I feel about him.

[Guest]

Omg they all look so creepy, i hate this era

[Adammmm 980]

1 hour ago, FfFfFfFF said:

Nanny McPhee vibes.

[Lippoutou 4,657]

1 hour ago, FfFfFfFF said:

 

The fashion mama 

[FfFfFfFF 58,120]

About the fact that moral aspect is debatable - I think is interesting that even the ''legal'' aspect is debatable. There were no laws allowing or preventing taking picture of public spaces backt then like we have now.