The History of "History of Photography"

 by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

I must have a connection with a puzzle before I spend the time putting it together. My connection to this puzzle is that I really love photography. I love photography so much that several years ago a friend, who lived in my community and I established a photo club. There are approximately 1700 residents in our subdivision and many of them were interested in photography. We held monthly meetings in which we discussed cameras and how to use them to take quality photos that tell a story to its viewers. We organized semiannual photo club field trips to nearby locations to teach our members how to take photos of interesting subjects and objects that resulted in professional quality photos.

This puzzle has a chronological timetable of cameras which spans from 1830 to 2020. The puzzle displays these different cameras and gives a short narrative on each of them. In 1826, Frenchman Joseph Niece took the first permanent photographic etching using a camera obscura, a box with a hole in one side which utilized light from an external scene. He was one of the first pioneers of photography. In 1840, Henry Fox Talbot invented the Calotype camera. This process used paper covered with silver iodide. In1871, Dr. Richard L. Maddox invented the Gelatin or Dry Plate photographic process. This involved the coating of glass photographic plates with a light sensitive gelatin emulsion and allowed them to dry prior to use. In 1880 the Kodak camera started using paper film and moved on to Celluloid.

1000 piece "History of Photography" assembled & photographed by Elmer Prather

By the 1900s Kodak introduced the Brownie camera which made photography much more affordable. It was a small and simple box camera. When I was in my early teens, my family owned one of these Brownie cameras. It required a roll of 620 film. One roll took twelve black and white pictures. Had we not had this camera, I would not have the photos that document how my family and friends looked in their earlier years. The purchase price for our Brownie camera was less than $10. What an investment. One of the pictures I most cherish is of my mother being baptized by her Baptist minister in a small lake near our home when she was around 35 years old.

In 1948, the Polaroid L and Model 95 camera was born, bringing this exciting technology to the hands of the consumer. The original model uses specially designed rolls of film, which enabled the image to be developed inside the camera. It then took just a minute or so before the photographer could print the photo.

I have owned expensive cameras that required 35 mm rolls of film and inexpensive digital cameras that use memory cards. Today’s cameras are amazing pieces of technology. In my lifetime cameras have evolved from the Kodak Brownie camera to digital cameras that can take professional quality photos. As camera technology evolves cameras will continue to improve.

Elmer Prather
Canton, Georgia
U S A

"History of Photography" 1000 piece by Cobble Hill Creation (in house design team)

This puzzle is a part of our Infographic themed puzzles where you get a collage and a timeline to learn more about the subject. We have many of these in our Fine Arts category and we hope you enjoy them. Thank you for reading our latest blog from one of our favourite puzzlers, Mr. Prather!

Good Ol' Apple Green Chevy and Best Friends

 by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

This is the 58th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 500-piece puzzle titled, "Let's Go Fishing" by Greg & Company. I really like his puzzles; I have put nine other puzzles of his together. Those other puzzles are Blue Truck Farm, Deerfield, Summer Afternoon on the Farm, Cozy Fireplace, Welcome to the Lake House, Hooked on Fishing, Sheep Field, Summer Truck and Happy Hen House.

I must have a connection with a puzzle before I spend the time putting it together. My connection to this puzzle is the beautiful Apple Green Chevrolet pickup truck sitting at the edge of a lake with its owner’s golden, chocolate, and black Labrador dogs in the bed of the truck. The truck is, I believe, a 1938 model.

"Let's Go Fishing" 500pc assembled by Elmer Prather

I fell in love with this puzzle because of the truck. The Apple Green paint on the truck reached out and grabbed me. I fell in love with old trucks when I was a teenager. When I was 16 years old, I saw a 1936 Chevrolet truck parked beside an old barn near my home. I stopped and asked if the truck was for sale and when it was, I purchased it for $50.00. That was a lot of money for a teenager but it was one of the best vehicle purchases I have made. I have owned five other trucks since then but I still have many fond memories of that old truck. It was special; it was like a member of our family. I expect that the truck in this puzzle picture is held in the same esteem by its owner because of its pristine condition; it still looks new.

Along with putting puzzles together I have a passion for photography. When I take a picture, I try to capture the story I see through the camera’s lens. A good picture tells the story of what the camera sees and what the photographer imagined when he clicked his camera’s shutter. When I look closely at the picture displayed in this puzzle it tells a story of an angler who loves his old truck and his dogs. He has his trusting dogs posing for a picture he is taking of them. You can imagine that this is what is happening because of the expressions on their faces. He has finished fishing because his tackle box and his rods and reels are sitting beside the truck. He was fishing for largemouth bass because I see what looks like a yellow sally fishing lure laying on the top shelf of his tackle box. He has changed from his muddy fishing boots to other shoes because he does not want to drive his truck home wearing those muddy boots that are sitting on the bed of his truck. He took this picture at just the right moment because he was able to capture the image of the man sailing his boat on the lake in front of his truck, the blue heron, the Canadian geese and the two American Goldfinch birds flying over and beside the truck. He took this picture at just the right time of day to be able to catch the clear blue sky with the cumulus clouds floating along. In the photography world, this is what is known as a Kodak moment.

"Let's Go Fishing" 500 piece by artist Greg Giordano

Commentary: How many of us really stop to investigate our puzzle and put as much thought and consideration into the scene as Mr. Prather? We applaud him for this write up and for taking the time to truly appreciate what Greg Giordano has captured with this picturesque image. Thank you!