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Baby elephant at the zoo

Today, we take photography for granted. Anyone can take a photograph simply by pressing a button. Yet, it was not always so simple.

The invention of photography was announced in 1839, but during its first fifty years taking a photograph was a complicated and expensive business. In 1888, all this was to change following the appearance of a camera that was to revolutionise photography. Popular photography can properly be said to have started 120 years ago with the introduction of the Kodak.

The Kodak camera was the invention of an American, George Eastman (1854-1932). It was a simple, leather-covered wooden box – small and light enough to be held in the hands. Taking a photograph with the Kodak was very easy, requiring only three simple actions; turning the key (to wind on the film); pulling the string (to set the shutter); and pressing the button (to take the photograph). There wasn’t even a viewfinder - the camera was simply pointed in the direction of the subject to be photographed. The Kodak produced circular snapshots, two and a half inches in diameter.

The Kodak was sold already loaded with enough paper-based roll film to take one hundred photographs. After the film had been exposed, the entire camera was returned to the factory for the film to be developed and printed. The camera, reloaded with fresh film, was then returned to its owner, together with a set of prints. To sum up the Kodak system, Eastman devised the brilliantly simple sales slogan: ‘You press the button, we do the rest.’

20 photos | 7,920 views

items are from 1900.

Boy paddling in the sea by National Media Museum
Girl looking in a rock pool by National Media Museum
Two men on the deck of a ship by National Media Museum
Woman reading by National Media Museum
Woman in a rowing boat by National Media Museum
Children paddling in the sea by National Media Museum
Woman, boy and a pram by National Media Museum
Woman at a market stall by National Media Museum
Baby elephant at the zoo by National Media Museum
Metropolitan railway steam locomotive by National Media Museum
Children paddling in the sea by National Media Museum
Kingsbury and Neasden station by National Media Museum
Children walking with a wheelbarrow by National Media Museum
Two young girls by National Media Museum
Beach photographer by National Media Museum
Two children sitting on a settee by National Media Museum
Two children on a balcony by National Media Museum
Seated man reading a book by National Media Museum
Hansom cab by National Media Museum
Woman riding a donkey by National Media Museum

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