Brief:
Write a report on why you think the chosen inventor contributed to modern photography.
- Explain your research and choice of inventor.
- Elaborate on the inventor’s contribution/s.
- Include any images which you think are necessary to explain your thought process.
- Your final report should be 500 – 1000 words.
I chose to deep dive into George Eastman. After reading through all the materials provided by the school, I felt most connected to him and wanted to learn more about him, his story, and his accomplishments.
“What we do during our working hours determines what we have;
what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are.”
—George Eastman
George Eastman and his early years
George was the only son and youngest of three children born to George Washington Eastman and Maria Kilbourn in 1854. At only 8 years old, his father died and the family came into hard times financially.
George stayed in school till he was 14 years old but then dropped out to help the family financially by getting a job as a messenger boy with an insurance company. It was a minimum wage salary and within a year, George became an office boy with another firm, and by his own initiative took charge of policy filing and wrote policies, raising his salary somewhat. The pay was still not enough, so he started studying accounting in
the evenings to find better employment. He is now 15 years old, working full time and studying in the evenings to help his widowed mother and 2 older sisters. After a year, one of his sisters who was wheelchairbound died from polio.
It was said that he was not especially gifted measured in that time academic standard, but what he accomplished proved everyone wrong.
5 years after starting his self-study, he landed a job as a junior clerk at the Rochester Savings Bank and thus tripling his salary.
Picture from amazon, George Eastman: A biography by Elizabeth Brayer
“The world is moving, and a company that contents itself with present accomplishments soon falls behind.
“
—George Eastman
George discovers his passion
In 1878, a 24-year-old George Eastman plans a vacation. A colleague suggests that he make a record of the trip. This suggestion caused George to buy a complete set of photographic equipment.
The equipment was enormous, it was heavy to carry and very costly. He also needed to pay to learn how to use it. His plan to go on a trip got squashed, but his passion for photography was lit.
He started researching how he could make the camera easier for an average person to use and enjoy. He read about a formula for a dry plate in a British magazine, and after getting some tutelage from two local amateur photographers,
he started developing a formula of his own. He continued his work at the bank for 3 years while burning the midnight oil in his mother’s kitchen working on his formula. She said he was so tired sometimes that he wouldn’t even get
undressed and go to bed, she would find him curled up on the kitchen floor sleeping on a blanket. In 1880 he had created not only a formula for dry-plate that worked but also engineered a device that could expose the plates in great quantity.
His young entrepreneur mind quickly realized he could sell the dry plates to other photographers.
“Heritage.” Kodak. Accessed 24 November, 2015.
Birth of a company
In the 1870s London was the center for the photographic and the business world, so George traveled there to patent his dry plates in 1879. Within a few years, he formed a partnership with a businessman called Henry A Strong and also resigned from his bank job to devote all his time to the new company. While managing the company and all its activities, he continued his research to simplify the process of taking photographs. In 1884 the partnership resulted in a new firm; the Eastman Dry Plate and Film company and they had 14 shareholders. In 1888, he and William H. Walker developed roll film and the first Kodak camera, thus starting a revolution within the world of photography and changing the name of his company to The Eastman company. Eastman believed his product should have its own identity, and that it should be simple to pronounce in any language, so he came up with the name Kodak in 1892, changing the name of the company to Eastman Kodak Company. The slogan created for the Kodak company: you press the button, we do the rest meant that after the customer had taken 100 exposures, they would send the camera back to Kodak Company, get them developed, then get the camera back.
In 1889, George Eastman hired a chemist called Henry Reichenbach who would develop a film that could easily be inserted into the cameras. Thomas Edison adapted this film to use in the motion picture camera he was developing. This added to the success of Eastmans company.
George Eastman and Thomas Edison at Eastman’s house in Rochester, New York, 1928 © Getty Images
A man of the people
George spent large sums of his earnings on donations and progress.
“The progress of the world depends almost entirely upon education
.”
—George Eastman
“If a man has wealth, he has to make a choice, because there is the money heaping up. He can keep it together in a bunch, and then leave it for others to administer after he is dead. Or he can get it into action and have fun, while he is still alive. I prefer getting it into action and adapting it to human needs, and making the plan work.”
—George Eastman
His favorite interests for the donations were the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and dental clinics. He felt that good care of teeth, nose, throat, and mouth at a young age was important for children to get the best chance in life. As for education, he had this to say after a large donation to M.I.T, Rochester, Hampton, and Tuskegee:
“The progress of the world almost entirely depends upon education. I selected a limited number of recipients because I wanted to cover certain kinds of education, and felt I could get
results with those named quicker and more directly than if money were spread”
He was a modest man and wouldn’t be in front of the camera, ironically enough. From what others said about him, and his accomplishments, it is clear that this man made a huge impact on the world.
He died by his own hand in 1932 after having struggled with diabetes and a progressive disability. He left a note saying:
“My work is done, why wait”
Innovation and joining the digital world
After Eastmans death, Kodak has strived to continue his work as an innovative company, and one that gives back to the community.
In 1942, KODACOLOR Film introduced the world’s first true color negative film for still photography.
Kodak introduced the first commercial transparent roll film in 1889, and in 1900, they lowered the cost of the KODAK BROWNIE camera within financial reach of consumers.
In 1975, Kodak launched the world`s first digital camera. In 1975 they made the first practical megapixel charge-couple device image sensor.
Other innventions quickly followed in their wake.
Conclusion
I believe that the work of a brilliant man has made it possible, far sooner then without him, for regular folks to enjoy taking pictures and creating memories. His work ethic and humaniterian ways lead to a company that to this day still cares for the community, their customers and the planet. They have also continued his work in being innovative and top keep pushing for better, more sustainable solutions.
Sources:
https://www.kodak.com/en/company/page/history
https://snl.no/George_Eastman
https://iphf.org/inductees/george-eastman/
https://quotes.thefamouspeople.com/george-eastman-6668.php
https://www.kodak.com/en/company/page/george-eastman-history
Frontpage picture: Credit: Canada Science and Technology Museum #1990.0240.001.aa.cs