Why the world loved first photographs?

After looking at old photography and understanding how photography came to be so popular, it is my understanding that the world loved the first photographs because it was something completely different what the general public was used to. At that time general public could not comprehend how taking photographs was possible the technology that was involved was very new and different. People were generally exposed to paintings of sceneries and people that were either presidents prime ministers, kings or queens. So they would never think that something only the rich and the powerful can afford can be provided to them granted it was the not the same thing but it was very close and what made it very popular was it was something different and new.On the photographs part it was a very intense procedure to produce these photographs especially with the earliest cameras. they basically had to carry around the whole developing tools with them at all time.