On Boulevard du Temple, Paris, in 1838, one of the earliest daguerreotypes was taken. The photograph appears to have been taken from Verines, located at Place de la République.
A man is filling two buckets of water on a busy street; because of his long period of immobility he is sufficiently exposed and appears on the daguerreotype, unlike the other passers-by who did not show up. This is the first photographic image of a human being, after taken with a daguerreotype. The shot is called “portrait of Mr. Huet”, dated 1837 and attributed to Daguerre.
At the beginning of the daguerreotype, the size of equipment needed to achieve good shots didn’t permit excursions to the countryside. The first photographers worked indoors, taking pictures from their windows. This brought about the birth of the first workshops in Paris, including the “Lerebours” with a vue of “le quai du Louvre”. The extreme detail of the process fascinates Paris with Daguerre’s announcement in 1839, and soon insiders saw the benefit that this precision represented for shooting in and around the city.