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!