THREE of the world’s earliest existing photographic images are going on display in Bradford.

Tomorrow is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, pictured in portrait right, regarded as the world’s first successful photographer.

Niépce created permanent images by exposing chemicals on metal plates to light, naming the process heliography (drawing with the sun). There are 16 Niépce heliographic plates known to be in existence today, three of which belong to the National Media Museum’s Royal Photographic Society Collection.

They will be on show at the museum from Friday, March 20, forming part of the Drawn By Light show.