Daguerreotype
Morse met the inventor of the daguerreotype, Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, in Paris in January 1839 when Daguerre's invention was announced [2]. While the daguerreotype fascinated Morse, he was concerned about how the new invention would compete with his telegraph. However, Morse's viewing of the daguerreotype alleviated his fears when he saw how revolutionary its technology was. Morse wrote a letter to his brother Sidney describing Daguerre's invention, which Sidney then published in the New-York Observer on April 20, 1839. While this was not the first report of the daguerreotype to appear in America, it was the first in-person report to appear in the United States.
John C. Moss
Moss studied the work of Nicéphore Niepce (1765–1833), a French doctor who produced the world’s first photograph in 1826. He also mastered the technique of L.J.M Daguerre, a Frenchman who joined with Niepce to produce, in 1835, what became known as the first daguerreotype photograph, and which was followed by the worldwide commercial success of daguerreotypes.