The World’s First Self-Portrait. Cornelius pioneered early photography in the U.S. with a homemade camera and a silver-coated copper plate. He removed the lens cap, ran into frame, sat motionless for about a minute, and replaced the cap—exposing the first known photographic self-portrait. His image, bearing a thoughtful gaze and tousled hair, appeared mere months after Daguerre’s public announcement in France. Cornelius’s achievement not only inaugurated portrait photography but also foreshadowe