History of Kodak

Every spring, I get down and dirty. In the basement that is! I clean and organize the previous year's accumulative junk. I am not a hoarder by any means, however there are still 5 other possible hoarding suspects living under my roof adding to the never ending pile.

My stuff is always tossed at the back and every spring I bring it back to the forefront to peruse and giggle over lost memories. This year, I dug up a long lost treasure, my first camera.

I was about 8 years old when my father gave it to me and as any little girl will tell you, owning your very own camera (especially in the eighties) was a dream.

My Kodak EK100 camera (the popular Polaroid version) has been collecting dust for years now, actually, I think I only used it for a couple of months before Polaroid won their on going suit against Kodak for the film patent infringement.

My camera was among 16 million left without available film. Quite a bummer for me!

I look at it now and it still looks brand new and in the original box to boot. Although I can't use it, I thought I would create a lens about Kodak and dedicate it to all the millions of people who once held and cherished their Kodak EK100.

High school Drop out George Eastman was born the youngest of 3 children on July 12th, 1854.

At the tender age of 5, his father died and left the family with financial burden beyond the means of his mother's capabilities.

Against all financial adversity, he quit school and took his first job as messenger for an insurance firm at only 14 years of age. Although the weekly salary of $3 left much to be desired, his gift for organization, management and lively inventive mind enabled him to become a successful entrepreneur that lead to the development of Eastman Kodak Company.

At the age of 24, Eastman bought his first photographic outfit with all the paraphernalia of the wet plate days.

This included a camera the size of a microwave, a sturdy tripod, a tent, chemicals, water and of course, glass plates. A photography station back in the day looked much like the picture below.

Up until the 1880's, photos had to be developed on the spot one at a time in a very precise fashion, hence the need for all the equipment. A plate was used to capture a negative. A wet plate refers to the application of various chemicals needed to expose the negative.

• The first step consisted of applying a pre-mixed collodion (transparent and sticky coating) solution to the entire surface of the glass plate.

• Next you had to crawl under the dark tent and apply another solution-silver nitrate (a solution that binds to the collodion, which is sensitive to light)

• While still in the dark room, you would then slide the glass plate in the camera.

• Now it's time to take the lens off and expose the plate. This takes anywhere from 20 seconds to 5 minutes, depending on how much light hits the subject and how much enters the lens.

• Once exposed, the lens is replaced and the glass plate removed. The plate at this stage cannot be exposed to light.

• The plate is then doused with a developer solution made of iron sulfate and acetic acid. This turn the silver grains hit by light into metallic sliver. Your plate is now ready to be rinsed with water and safely taken out of the darkroom.

• Left over silver grains are then removed in a tray of sodium thiosulphate.

• Voila, a negative! Now all that's left to do is to varnish the negative to preserve the image.

George Eastman though the whole process was quite complicated and sought to simplify the method. This began his journey into the world of photography and the future of the Kodak camera.

After three years of experimenting, Eastman created a formula that would eliminate the need for wet plates and also patented a machine that could prepare a large number of dry plates at one sitting. This marked a new beginning for the world of photography, making it more appealing to aspiring photographers and the population in general.

In the years that followed, Eastman invented many cameras and types of film too numerous to mention here, but the one that remains the most popular is the first Kodak Brownie.

The Kodak Brownie was born in February 1900 and revolutionized the world of technology, including advancements in the fields of medical x-rays, satellite imaging and the Internet.

It was sold for $1 at the time and was so easy to use, that even children could marvel at their own photographic talents.

George Eastman died at the age of 77, March 14th, 1932. He had been battling a progressive disability that prevented him from leading an active life, giving up he took his own life.

Although a tragic end to a legacy, the techonology lives on!