Burrowing owlet posing in Cape Coral, Florida, USA

© mlorenzphotography/Getty Image

Oh snap! It's Camera Day. It's Camera Day. Get the picture?

This burrowing owlet – one of the few types of owls that are active during the day in North and South America – looks ready for his close-up and set for Camera Day. Today’s date, 29 June, commemorates photographs, the camera and their invention. This history of the camera goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks and Chinese who used pinhole cameras (camera obscuras), similar to what you might use to view a solar eclipse. The camera obscura could project an image but didn’t leave a lasting one. In the 1800s, several inventors made advances towards producing an image on a piece of paper or sensitised plate. They also experimented with various lenses. In 1884, American entrepreneur George Eastman patented the first film in rolls, and a few years later introduced the Kodak Black camera.These days, of course, just about everyone carries around a digital camera in their phones, documenting everything from major life events to their latest sandwich. So get in the spirit and snap a selfie, a picture of your pet or anything for Camera Day.