How Kodak invented the “snapshot”

In 1888, the Eastman Kodak Company rolled out a new camera and a new slogan.

You press the button, we do the rest.

To say this moment revolutionized photography would be an understatement.

But this story isn't just about Kodak.

It's about what happens when a powerful technology,

originally only understood by a select few, can suddenly fit in your hand.

The photography processes developed in the mid-1800s required a mastery of chemistry,

timing, and light to achieve a successful result.

Becoming a photographer meant training on complicated equipment like big bulky cameras

loaded with glass plates coated with photosensitive chemicals.

Not to mention the expertise needed to develop images in a dark room once a photo was taken.

Professionals set up shop in photography studios and offered their specialized skill set to a paying clientele.

Getting your photo taken was often a pretty serious, rare occasion.

That is, until the Kodak No. 1 debuted.

It was a handheld box camera preloaded with a relatively new, lightweight invention, roll film.

One roll in this camera could shoot 100 photos, each cropped in a circle.

The results weren't nearly as sharp or detailed as professional equipment could produce,

but they were photos, taken for the first time by people with little or no previous knowledge of photography.