The Start of Snapshots

In 1888 the first Kodak camera came out, allowing anyone (who could afford the initially high price) to take their own photographs, regardless of skill. The camera came pre-loaded with film, and after exposure you sent it to Eastman Kodak in Rochester. They sent you the camera back, re-loaded, along with your prints. All you had to do was press the button. The world of photography would never be the same.

Snapshots from the Kodak Number One and Number Two, 1888-1890. Those from the Library of Congress (taken in Washington DC) are all by Uriah Hunt Painter, an avid snapshooter. The original photographs aren't black and white, they're the same dark purple-brown and cream as the ones from the National Media Museum (gold-toned gelatin printing-out paper); they were photographed in black and white for reproduction.

Library of Congress

A man and boy in front of the treasury, Washington DC. Source

National Media Museum

Children wading in the sea. Source

Library of Congress

A little girl in riding clothes, Washington DC. Source

Nineteenth Century Views of India

By the 1850s, travel photographs were in. However, easy to operate hand cameras were still a couple decades in the future, as were photo postcards. Instead, photographers offered a variety of scenic views of popular places, to be purchased, taken home, and often put into albums. The new albumen paper, inexpensive and detailed, encouraged the business. Many of the tourist view photographers were highly skilled and produced beautiful pictures. One of the more famous is Samuel Bourne, a British photographer in India in the 1860s. Today, a series of his photographs.

From the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego. 

Museum of Photographic Arts

The Burning Ghat, Benares, 1865. Source

Museum of Photographic Arts

Mausoleum, Agra, 1865. Source

Museum of Photographic Arts

Nynee Tal, 1867. Source

Christmas Postcards

Going through my posts yesterday has got me feeling Christmas-y! Let's have our first new Christmas post of the year. 

In the early twentieth century, people were just crazy about sending postcards, especially for holidays and especially for Christmas. The New York Public Library has about seven hundred (here, if you want more after this post). The ones I've chosen stood out to me either because they're especially nice, especially ugly, and/or especially strange.... though I'll leave it to the viewer to decide which is which!

The NYPL terrifically reproduces the backs as well as the fronts; many are fairly simple, just the sender and reciever or a variant of "Merry Christmas", but a few are more interesting and I've reproduced them. Most, however, are written, so do follow the source links if you're interested!

New York Public Library

Source

New York Public Library

Postmarked 1907. Source

New York Public Library

"It has quit raining. Have you read anything about what is liable to happen on Dec. 17 this year when the six greatest planets begin drawing on the sun. Some of the more radicals deem it will cause the end of the world, maybe." (seriously-- read it!)

Postmarked 1918. Source

Posts Of The Christmas Season

Last year, for most of December I had Christmas-themed posts; rather than repeat myself, as we come once again to the holiday season I've brought them all together here. A couple more shall be upcoming, as well as heaps of stuff I haven't been able to share yet, but for now, some Christmassy pics to unwrap!

Christmas Shopping With London Transport

O Christmas Tree

Trimming the Tree

The Civil War, Tinted

I haven't had a people of the civil war post in a long time, which is a shame as the photographs are striking to look at and started me into this blog in the first place. Fortunately I got sucked into the Library of Congress's collection for a few hours today (when I should have been studying for a photo history exam, ironically), so I have rather a lot of material now to draw from! Expect more of this in the coming months. 

Today's theme: hand-tinting. People were crazy about photography right away, but sad it didn't yet come in colour. So a market sprung up for the tinting of photographs with paints, aided by the fact that photography put many former painters of miniatures out of work. They tinted daguerreotypes (like this one), and when they moved on to tintypes, ambrotypes, and glass negative-paper photography, they tinted those even more. You almost always see some degree of tinting in ambrotypes and higher-end tintypes, especially the cheeks. Jewellery and buttons are also often painted with gold. (just glance through this post of civil war portraits!). However, it didn't always stop there. Parts of clothing, all the clothing, parts of the backdrop, tablecloths... all were potentially coloured. Sometimes this is a nice effect. Sometime it's.... not. (Though, granted, sometimes the different rates of deterioration in the imaging substance and the paints means the colour looks more drastic today than it did originally. Sometimes, though, it was just flat out badly done).

Portraits were done very widely in the civil war, as ambrotypes and tintypes, and there was a similar wide variety of tinting going on.

From the Library of Congress.

Library of Congress

A Confederate captain. Ambrotype. Source

Library of Congress

Union soldier with bayoneted musket. Ambrotype. Source

Library of Congress

Unidentified Confederate soldier. Ambrotype. Source