this is the oldest reliably dated photo of a person known. some say the man getting his boots polished is daguerre himself, but that is unconfirmed.

"The image shows a busy street, but because the exposure time was at least ten minutes the moving traffic cannot be seen. However, two men at lower left, one apparently having his boots polished and the other the bootblack, remained motionless enough to be distinctly visible.

The image is reversed (as were most Daguerreotypes) as is evidenced by the signage on a building in upper left."