George+Eastman+--+Kodak

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 * George Eastman** was born in Waterville, New York on July 12 1854. He was the youngest of three children and dropped out of high school at the age of 14 after his father died. He became a young office worker in order to provide for his mother and two older sisters.

Ten years later, when Eastman was 24, he planned a trip to Santo Domingo, where upon a friends suggestion, he decided to document his trip with photographs. He purchased all the necessary equipment including, a tent and chemicals to develop the prints as well as a large camera. He described his equipment as “a pack-horse load”. Learning how to use his camera and develop the pictures he took cost him five dollars. He never went on his trip to Santo Domingo, but became so intrigued by the art of photography that he began to look for a way to simplify the process. He was inspired by the British’s use of gelatin emulsions and after three years of experimenting with gelatin emulsions, he found a process that was successful. By 1880, Eastman had not only found a way to make a dry plate process but had also patented a machine for preparing a large number of plates. In April after renting space to develop his invention, Eastman began to manufacture dry plates for sale to other photographers.



He began to develop ways other than glass to record the photographs. His solution was to use a roll of paper and coat it in a thin layer of soluble gelatin, and then a second layer of insoluble, light-sensitive gelatin. After the image was captured and developed, the gelatin image was removed from the paper and coated with collodion (a cellulose solution that forms a tough, flexible film. From here, Eastman perfected the film roll and roll holder, and established the base of his business, which would be targeted towards the amateur photographer.



“You press the button, we do the rest”. This was the slogan paired with Eastman’s original Kodak camera in 1888. The camera for the everyman, along with the slogan, was soon on national newspapers, magazines, advertisements and more. It wasn’t long before Kodak was introduced at the world’s expositions, with the “Kodak Girl”. Who was always dressed in the newest style and toting the newest Kodak camera. In 1897 one of the first electric signs used for advertising bore the Kodak name, in London’s Trafalgar Square.