© Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon), ca. 1865, Revolving selfportrait

Nadar was the first person in history to take aerial photographs (he was a balloonist) and was one of the pioneers of artificial lighting (he photographed in the catacombs of Paris).  Nadar also created an impressive collection of portraits of famous individuals during his time. You can find a collection of his images over on the Wikimedia Commons. (+)