Two centuries ago, a French inventor gazed out of his window in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes and captured a defining moment in the history of science (not to mention art). The result – titled View from the Window at Le Gras – is widely considered to be the world’s first surviving photograph. While Niépce did not consider himself much of an artist, the experiments he had developed to create this process were deeply creative. The original plate used to create the first photograph, titled "View from the Window at Le Gras". However, upon his return, he started exchanging ideas and collaborating with Louis Daguerre, a French artist who eventually pioneered the "daguerreotype process of photography."