'Father of Modern Photography'

He has been described as the 'Father of Modern Photography'  because he photographed the French culture changing with the Industrial Revolution

He is one of a number of traditional French architectural photographers. Some of these other photographers include the likes of Henri Le Secq, Gustave le Gray and Edouard Baldus

(2001, p. 3-7)

Henri Le Secq 'was a learned and cultivated man, a collector of old master prints and medieval ironwork'. His 'personal passion for architecture, quiet landscapes, and humble still lifes was served by a more intimate, private, and expressive vision'

(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History) 

(Wikimedia Commons, 2011)

However, Gustave le Gray was also one of the most important photographers in French culture in the 1850s. He first experimented with paper photography in 1848 and became well-known for his Paris scenes and architectural photos of chateau's and churches

(The Metropolitan Museum, 2013, Gustave Le Gray (1820 - 1884))

And finally, Edouard Baldus 'was recognised as one of the few photographers to combine aesthetic sensitivity with an astonishing technical prowess in the still experimented and handcrafted medium.' He was one of five selected to photograph the 'nation's architectural patrimony, focusing particularly on those monuments in need restoration'

(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013, Edouard Baldus (1813 - 1889))

'Atget's technique belonged to the nineteenth century, yet his vision belongs firmly to the twentieth. His gaze was direct and frank, but he, more than any of his contemporaries, was able to make the imaginary co-exist with the real. And thus he invented modern photography'

(1992, p. 25)

References:

Badger, G. (2001) Eugene Atget 55. Unknown edn. London: Phaidon Press Limited.

Beaumont-Maillet, L. (1992) Atget's Paris. Unknown edn. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2013) Edouard Baldus (1813 - 1889). Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bald/hd_bald.htm (Accessed: 15 February 2014).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2013) Gustave Le Gray (1820 - 1884). Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gray/hd_gray.htm (Accessed: 15 February 2014).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2013) Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1990.1130 (Accessed: 15 February 2014).

Wikimedia Commons (2011) Cathedrale Strasbourg - facade Sud partie centrale - Le Secq 1851. Available at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cathédrale_Strasbourg_-_façade_Sud_partie_centrale_-_Le_Secq_1851.jpg (Accessed: 15 February 2014).