Robert Cornelius | duration: 23 seconds

Historical image is Public Domain | Library of Congress

AI tools were used to animate this 1839 self-portrait of Robert Cornelius, thought to be the earliest extant American photographic portrait.

From the commentary by the Library of Congress:

Daguerre announced his invention of a photographic method to the French Academy of Sciences in August 1839. That October, a young Philadelphian, Robert Cornelius, working out of doors to take advantage of the light, made this head-and-shoulders self-portrait using a box fitted with a lens from an opera glass. In the portrait, Cornelius stands slightly off-center with hair askew, in the yard behind his family's lamp and chandelier store, peering uncertainly into the camera. Early daguerreotypy required a long exposure time, ranging from three to fifteen minutes, making the process nearly impractical for portraiture.
(Source: "Photographic Material," by Carol Johnson. In Gathering History: the Marian S. Carson Collection of Americana, 1999, p. 100)