The two greatest photographic advances.

The two greatest advances in photography since its discovery are Kodak Brownie and digital photography. Why these two?

The Kodak Brownie

The Kodak Brownie was introduced by Eastman Kodak company in 1900. The camera sold for $1 in 1900, While $1 was still expensive (the average salary in 1900 was just over $8 per week) it brought the ability of photography to the masses. The Kodak Brownie allowed the common people a chance to photograph their families, events, and the world around them. 150,000 Kodak Brownie cameras were shipped the first year. The Kodak Brownie existed in various models from 1900 through 1986 with millions of units sold.

Digital Photography

Digital photography is my next choice for the greatest advancement in photography. Digital photography had early beginnings starting in 1957. The CCD image sensor was invented in 1969. The first self-contained digital camera was invented in 1975. These were typically not available to consumers. The first digital camera available to the consumer appeared in 1990. What makes the invention of digital photography so great is that it led us to where we are today with digital cameras built into our cellphones and modern digital cameras. The invention of digital photographic technology is as big an advancement as the original Brownie cameras. Just think about it, there are over 1.8 billion (1,800,000,000) photographs uploaded to the internet every day! That is just uploaded! We are the most photographed era ever.

Why is this important

These two advances are truly important to us as modern photographic artists for a number of reasons. The single most important reason, to me, is that they brought photography to the common people. Many of us may not have been able to create the art and images we do today had these advances not happened. Photography is available to most of us in our pocket. We can instantly create. Let’s create something beautiful today.