The History and Growth of Travel Photography

Not long after the announcement of L. J. M. Daguerre’s daguerreotype process in 1839, the photographic medium and its technologies began to develop rapidly.  While the unique image of a daguerreotype was well-suited to decorative portraiture, the lack of a negative and long exposure times made the process less profitable for landscape or travel photography since photographers could not reproduce multiple prints to sell to the public.  As photographic technologies advanced, the invention of tintypes helped to lower the price of photographs by producing images on affordable metal plates, the sturdy nature of which also allowed for them to be shipped or mailed abroad.  The increased use of the “wet-plate” negative process in the mid-nineteenth century allowed photographers to make multiple, saleable prints from one negative and thus became one of the more profitable processes for a travelling photographer despite the process’s cumbersome nature.

It was not until the invention of the Kodak camera in 1888 that photography truly became a popular hobby.  Persuaded by the company’s slogan, “You push the button and we’ll do the rest”, consumers embraced the newly accessible nature of photography which no longer demanded the knowledge and technical skills as had been previously required.

While it was not until the last quarter of the nineteenth century that photography fell into the hands of the general public, photographers had long since been documenting exotic places abroad, returning with images that allowed citizens in their home countries to become familiar with far-away, foreign places despite having never left their hometown.  Early photographers** known for doing so include Francis Frith, Maxime du Camp, J. P. Sebah, and Samuel Bourne, to name just a few.

As travel methods advanced and became more readily accessible, people carried their own cameras and documented their travels, returning home to brag to friends and relatives about where they had been, presenting their photographs as proof of their exotic experiences.  It is these types of photographs that we find in the Lorne Shields fonds.  Containing photographs of scenic landscapes, major sites of attraction and other tourist snapshots, we can explore countries not only half way around the world but also as they existed over a hundred and fifty years ago.

Today, travel photography remains popular as ever as both cameras and global travel become increasingly accessible to the public.  Tourists now scramble to get photographs of themselves at whatever landmarks are deemed “must-sees” in their respective destinations, with the infamous “selfie” becoming a dominant sub-category in travel photography.  While the photographic medium has improved exponentially since its conception, we must be wary of our recent addiction to the accessibility and instantaneity that digital photography – particularly cell phone photography – continues to provide us with.  In light of our haste to document and communicate our travels, we must pause to consider a concern that many have started to address: at what point are do we sacrifice our genuine appreciation of the travel experience in order to prove our being there, as we increasingly spend more time producing or interacting with these “proof of experience” photographs than with the actual landmark or destination itself.

Travel Photography in the Lorne Shields Fonds

Best known as an avid bicycle collector and historian, Lorne Shields’ interest in collecting began at an early age when he observed ­– and later helped to operate – his father’s business, selling bicycles and various parts and accessories.  Though his initial interest was primarily focused on acquiring bicycle-related objects and memorabilia – such as photographs, books and magazines–, his passion for and dedication to collecting soon expanded.  Photography became one of his many collecting interests and in 2007 he donated part of his photographic collection to Special Collections at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Library.

Comprised of boxes of photographs, textual materials and photographic albums, the Lorne Shields Fonds includes a variety of photographic material including studio portraiture, landscape photography, and many amateur snapshots, and almost half of the photographic albums are titled after countries or travels abroad.

These travel albums consist of photographs primarily from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and include photographs taken in Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, England, Morocco, Malta, Korea and many other countries.  Photographs of well-known landmarks and tourist attractions include sites such as Place de la Concorde in Paris, France; Plaza de Isabel II, Spain; The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy; the Temples of Venus, Mercury and Jupiter in Rome, Italy; various locations in the Grand Canyon, in Arizona, U.S.A; and many more.  Below is a small selection of the vast number of images in the fonds that address photography’s use in documenting travel in the late nineteenth and early to mid- twentieth centuries.

Conclusion

Almost since the beginning of photography’s existence, photographers have been documenting their travels in foreign countries abroad.  Improvements in photographic technologies made travel photography increasingly profitable for photographers until the invention of the Kodak camera in 1888, which granted widespread accessibility to photography for the general public and led to an abundance of scenic landscape and tourist snapshots as individuals documented their travels across the globe.

The Lorne Shields Fonds presents numerous travel photographs in many of its photographic, documenting several countries and well-known sites in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  These photographs represent a specific type of photography at a specific point in time.  Today, this type of photography ­­– travel photography – is increasingly affected by the instantaneity possible with digital and cell phone photography, allowing photographs be shared literally moments after they are created.  It is this instantaneity that we must be wary of, as many begin to worry that the perceived importance of sharing these images immediately may detract from the experiences of travel itself.

References

British Library Online Gallery, curator.  (n.d.)  The World in Focus.  In Historic Photographs. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/photographicproject/worldinfocus.html

British Library Online Gallery, curator.  (2009). Travel.  In Points of View.  Retrieved from: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/pointsofview/themes/travel/index.html

Flemming, J. (April 1^st, 2012).  From Boneshaker to the Pneumatic Tire.  Ornamentum.  Retrieved from: http://ornamentum.ca/article/from-boneshaker-to-the-pneumatic-tire/

Francis Frith.  In George Eastman House Still Photograph Archive.  Retrieved from: http://www.geh.org/ne/mismi0/frith-sin_idx00001.html

Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Collections.  Retrieved from: http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/the-great-sphinx-at-giza-looking-southwest-334699

Research Photographs at Princeton University, curator. (n.d.).  Global Views: Nineteenth Century Travel Photographs.  http://www.princeton.edu/researchphotographs/exhibitions/

Sandweiss, M. A.  (2006, Winter).  Photography in Nineteenth-Century America.  History Now 10. Retrieved from:  http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/art-music-and-film/essays/photography-nineteenth-century-america

Even today, just over two years since Kodak filed for bankruptcy, George Eastman’s name is unforgotten for the acute business prowess he demonstrated during the formation of his legacy, the Eastman Kodak Company. Often compared to Apple’s Steve Jobs, Eastman was known for his ingenious business strategies that began the mass commercialization of photography and put a camera in every home.

Looking at Eastman’s childhood, it is no surprise that he became such an incisive business man. Although his father, George Washington Eastman, passed away when he was only six year’s old, he still managed to found one of the oldest commercial colleges in the world, the Eastman Commercial College, that later became part of the Rochester Business Institute. Entrepreneurialism was in Eastman’s genes. His family did not fare well after the death of George Washington, and as Eastman grew up he watched his mother struggle to keep the lifestyle her family had been accustomed to. It could be said that this may have helped to motivate Eastman to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Having shown an early interest in photographs and stereoviews, Eastman’s real journey with photography first began in 1877, when he purchased his first camera to take pictures on a trip he didn’t end up making. At the time, photography was an expensive and labour-intensive hobby that required patience and a lot of equipment. Eastman began experimenting with this camera and before long he had patented his first photographic contributions: a gelatin dry plate emulsion and a mechanism for coating glass plates. With these he began the Eastman Dry Plate Company. By 1881 Eastman had turned his company into a successful and sustainable business, but it was a different invention that truly set the stage for what Eastman’s business would become: film.

Despite having already established such a prosperous business, Eastman still had bigger plans. At a time when the industrial revolution was still a recent memory, his 1932 biography by Ackerman states the four policy guidelines Eastman followed to encourage the growth of his company:

1. Production in large quantities by machinery
2. Low prices to increase the usefulness of products
3. Foreign as well as domestic distribution
4. Extensive advertising as well as selling by demonstration

Eastman wanted to find a way to replace the glass from a collodion negative, create a workable holder for that replacement, and build machinery that would be able to efficiently manufacture each invention. He looked to previous unsuccessful attempts at roll-film, such as one by Wernerke from the 1870s, and sought to improve on them and increase their usability. By June 1885, in collaboration with camera builder William Walker, George Eastman had patented and put on the market a form of roll film, a roll holder, as well as a form of sheet paper plates, a more recognizable substitute for glass. With this shift in focus towards his business, the Eastman Dry Plate Company was purchased by the Eastman Dry Plate & Film Company.

Because of the contemporary fascination with the photography, as well as the labour intensive traits of the hobby, many people involved in the technology were eager to improve on it. During the late 1800s and into the early 1900s many ideas were popping up and photographers wanted to ensure they would receive the credit for them, by applying for patents. Eastman himself was aware of the need to protect his inventions and made sure to attain patents (through application or buying them from other inventors) for every step of his new film system, a strategy continued throughout the life of the company. He, along with his business partners at the time, bought out all their foreign patents as well, and began to initiate step 3, opening an outlet in London, U.K. in 1884. By 1886 Eastman had placed a man named Joseph Thatcher Clarke in charge of in charge of linking the United States with Europe, to help protect the company’s American inventions.

Many doubted Eastman’s commitment to his early flexible films, and it did not initially catch on with experienced photographers. Consumers, still primarily established photographers, were not able to produce as good of results as they could with their glass plates. However, Eastman had confidence that the inexpensive and effective qualities of this product would eventually lead to mass manufacturing. In reaction to poor public response, Eastman added new products to his business: American film and a developing out paper called “Permanent Bromide”, which yielded better results than his earlier paper-based films. He dreamt of popularizing photography to the extent that everyone would participate in the practice, and added a photofinishing service that could provide enlargements and prints to those who used his films. Eastman now sold films, paper, prints and enlargements, yet there was still one component missing from the Eastman Dry Plate & Film Company that was hindering his products from reaching every household, and that was a camera.

It was in 1888 that George Eastman coined the word Kodak, a unique, short, memorable name that could not be mispronounced, and unveiled his first box camera along with a new system of photographic image making that anyone could use. Along with the slogan “You press the button, we do the rest”, Eastman had found a new market to sell his products to that experienced photographers had refused to buy. Anyone could purchase a camera pre-loaded with a pre-loaded 100 exposure roll of film, take their 100 shots, mail the camera back to the Eastman Dry Plate & Film Company in Rochester, and wait to have their prints and the camera loaded with a new roll of film mailed back to them. Within the next decade Eastman was able to improve his technology to make photography even more affordable, and his dream a reality.

Ryerson Library Special Collections, located on the fourth floor of the Ryerson Library, holds numerous examples of the formation of the Eastman Kodak Company, particularly in Canada, including cameras, films, photographs and more! To access Special Collections give us a call or send us an email to book an appointment at: asc@ryerson.ca or 416-979-5000 ext. 4996.

References:

Ackerman, Carl W. George Eastman.

Brayer, Elizabeth. George Eastman.

Collins, Douglas. The Story of Kodak.

Jenkin, Reese. Images and Enterprise: Technology and the American Photographic Industry, 1839-1925. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1897.

It’s an image that is familiar to many: the fashionable, romantic woman, on a wind swept beach cradling her Kodak camera.  Bearing a striking resemblance to the Gibson Girl, this representation of an independent women at the dawn of the progressive era was part of a savvy marketing strategy by Kodak that came to be known as the “Kodak Girl” (Jacob, 2011).

At this time, Kodak had begun to produce roll film, cheaper, more portable cameras, and a system that allowed film to be sent back to the company (and later your local drug store) for development.  With the need for the amateur to have a darkroom and complicated and expensive chemicals and equipment was eliminated, photography was now accessible to everyone.

And Kodak knew who they should advertise to.  Around the turn of the last century, women were becoming more self-sufficient and began to enjoy more freedom, engaging more often in work outside the home and past times (Nordstrom, 2012).  From beach vacations to snowy winter outings to tennis matches, the modern woman was fun-loving and independent.  She now felt free to go out and explore the world – and she was taking her Kodak camera with her!

But this was not the only image of the Kodak girl; Kodak also understood, and as Dr. Kamal Munir points out helped spread, the notion that if women also wanted to be responsible mothers and wives, they would ensure that all the key moments were duly captured (2012). Women were seen as the memory keepers of the family.  It was their duty to make sure that the precious moments of her children’s lives were captured.  Birthdays, first steps, holidays, graduations – all needed to be recorded and saved for posterity, and it was up to women to make sure that happened.  This marketing strategy proved very lucrative for the company, and theme continued in their ads for many years.

Over time, the Kodak Girl fell out of favour.  While she was still around in film and camera advertising, her job was no longer to sell women on the idea of photography.  From the mid 20th century, she was more likely to be seen in a bathing suit, often in the form of a life-sized cut out, reminding customers to re-stock their film supply before the summer holidays.

The later Kodak girls likely did not have the same impact on female customers.  Some suggest that Kodak’s neglect of advertising strategies directed specifically at women in their later marketing campaigns for digital cameras may have meant ignoring a significant portion of their potential market – possibly adding to the decline that the company has experienced since the digital boom (Munir, 2012). 

For more information on the history of the Kodak company in Canada, or to browse some of the cameras and equipment they produced over its nearly 125-year history, visit the Special Collections department on the 4th floor of the Toronto Metropolitan University Library and Archives.  Call us at 416-979-5000 ext. 4996 or send us an email: asc@ryerson.ca

For more Kodak Girls, visit the Martha Cooper Collection website.

References:

Gautrand, Jean-Claude. (1983). Publicites Kodak: 1910-1939. Paris: Contrejour. Get it at Ryerson

Jacob, John P. (Ed.). (2012). Kodak Girl : From the Martha Cooper Collection. Germany: Steidl. Get it at Ryerson

Munir, Dr. Kamal. (2012). The Demise of Kodak : Five Reasons. The Wall Street Journal.  Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2012/02/26/the-demise-of-kodak-five-reasons/

Nordstrom, Dr. Alison. (2012). Lovely, Smart, Modern: Women with Cameras in a Changing World. In Jacob, John P. (Ed.), Kodak Girl: From the Martha Cooper Collection (65-70). Germany: Steidl.

West, Nancy Martha. (2010). Kodak and the Lens of Nostalgia. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.  Get it at Ryerson

In 1947, Edwin Land unveiled a new process that would change the direction of amateur photography. It was a one-step, one-minute process that produced a fully finished photograph, something no one had ever seen before. This process was the beginning of a new genre of creating photographs called instant photography. The camera that was made for this in-camera process was the Land camera, named for the inventor of synthetic polarizer and the instant film process, and the founder of the Polaroid Corporation. Many different models of these first Polaroid cameras, as well as many later models, can be viewed at Special Collections in the Toronto Metropolitan University Library Archives, along with examples of different Polaroid photographs and instant film.

Polaroid dominated the market for this unique and easy photographic process that was a huge hit with amateur and professional consumers. However, also among the shelves of Special Collections, are examples of cameras, prints and film made by a number of different manufacturing companies who tried to get in on this popular genre of photography. None were nearly as successful, as no one could compete with the Polaroid name or their (what is often referred to as brilliant) marketing campaign. Stars such as Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Mariette Hartley & James Garner, Blyth Danner, Candice Bergen, and The Muppets loaned their talents to promoting Polaroid products at a time when many stars were wary of doing commercials.  

Then, in 1976, Polaroid was finally faced with their first real competitor for the instant photography market, an already established manufacturer of photographic equipment and materials: the Eastman Kodak Company. But Polaroid was prepared to deal with their competition, and by 1986, all of Kodak’s instant photography films and cameras had been pulled from the market, and Kodak ceased to manufacture any products that would directly compete with Polaroid’s instant photography niche.

In fact, from 1963-1969, the Eastman Kodak Company had actually manufactured Polaroid’s instant film for them. At this time, Kodak was planning to introduce themselves to the market with a packfilm design, but later, after Polaroid released their SX-70 system in 1972, Kodak decided to go in a different direction and follow Polaroid with an integral type process instead. Although Kodak’s design differed from Polaroid’s in numerous ways, Polaroid filed suit against Kodak mere months after the release of the new products for the infringement of 12 Polaroid patents, accusing Kodak of illegally incorporating instant photography technology into their products. They claimed that during the 10 years the Eastman Kodak Company produced instant photography materials, they had cost the Polaroid Corporation $12 billion.

The final charges, announced in 1990, did not amount to $12 billion (what many considered a huge exaggeration), but at $909 million, they did come close to a billion. Found guilty on 7 of the 12 patent infringements after a trial in 1985, Kodak was forced out of instant photography the following year.  The widely reported ruling was bad news for customers who had purchased a Kodak Instant camera.

The case did end favourably for Kodak though, especially after the high demands from Polaroid, who felt that Kodak had intentionally copied their technology. After a 14-year legal battle, in 1991 Kodak was finally ordered to pay Polaroid a total of $909 million, $925 million with interest, the largest settlement ever paid out until last year when Apple was awarded $1.049 billion in damages from Samsung infringements.

As part of the settlement, Kodak needed to provide compensation for customers who had bought any of their instant cameras between 1976 and 1986 and would no longer be able to purchase film to use in them. Owners of Kodak instant cameras were invited to call a toll free number and register themselves in order to receive a settlement packet. The packet was mailed out to those who registered, and provided customers with instructions of how to receive a rebate check or certificate, which often involved removing the name plate off of the front of the camera and mailing it in as proof of purchase.

The Eastman Kodak Company did manage to recover after the Polaroid lawsuit, and with the sales of their popular movie films were able to regain their success. Unfortunately, the company was much slower with the uptake of the digital market, and in 2012 filed for bankruptcy due to lack of demand for the primary products made by their company, photographic films.

If you wish to pay tribute to some of Kodak’s instant photography cameras, you can make an appointment to come and see examples such as the Kodamatic 940, the Kodak Colorburst models 250 and 300, and the Kodak Trimprint 940 (with nameplates still intact!), as well as a wide range of instant cameras, film, and equipment made by Polaroid and other instant photography manufacturers that Special Collections keeps in their Heritage Camera Collection and the Kodak Canada Corporate Archives.

More information

Have a look at some of the original television advertisements for the Kodak instant Cameras.

For more detailed information on how the instant photography process works, have a look at this article by Tom Harris at How Stuff Works.

To make an appointment with Ryerson Library Special Collections, contact:

asc@ryerson.ca

416-979-5000 ext 4996

Sources

Frezza, Bill. “Polaroid, Kodak, Apple: No One Escapes the Winds of Creative Destruction” Forbes, Sept 5, 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrezza/2012/09/05/polaroid-kodak-apple-no-one-escapes-the-winds-of-creative-destruction.

Holusha, John. “Kodak Told it must Pay $909 Million.” New York Times (1923-Current File), Oct 13, 1990. http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/108482495?accountid=13631.

“Instant Camera Settlement.” Kodak Service and Support. http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/faqs/faq0098.shtml.

“Kodak Settles Dispute With Polaroid the Fight Over Instant-photography Technology Took 15 Years and Cost Kodak $925 Million in Damages.” The Inquirer, July 16, 1991. http://articles.philly.com/1991-07-16/business/25783982_1_polaroid-patents-instant-cameras-instant-photography-business.

McCarty, Dawn and Beth Jinks. “Kodak Files for Bankruptcy as Digital Era Spells End for Film.” Bloomberg, January 19, 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-19/kodak-photography-pioneer-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-1-.html.

Wurman, Richard Saul. Polaroid Access: Fifty Years. [S.I.] : Access Press, 1989. 

Toronto Metropolitan University students and researchers now have access to an extensive collection of materials related to Robert Hackborn’s work. For nearly four decades, Robert Hackborn worked at the CBC in the design and production of sets and visual effects for television shows. On display now at the Special Collections Library are some of these materials generously donated by Hackborn.

Robert Arthur Hackborn was born in 1928 in Toronto, and attended the Ontario College of Art (OCA) from 1948 to 1952. In 1955, Hackborn embarked on what would become a long and important career in the design and production of sets and visual effects for television when he took a position in the nascent Television Production unit at the CBC. His often leading-edge contributions to the many shows he worked on are of great cultural and technological significance.

While at the CBC, Hackborn helped to design a staggering array of variety, comedy, musical, sports, news, children’s, and scripted television programs. Starting with The Juliette Show in the late 1950’s, and continuing into the 1990’s, Hackborn’s designs and visual effects defined and enhanced the production of a vast number of shows at the CBC.  Among those featuring Hackborn’s input were: Mr. Roger’s Neighbourhood, Mr. Dressup, The Tommy Hunter Show, World Tour ’67, Wayne & Shuster, I Married the Klondike, Fraggle Rock, The Royal Canadian Air Farce, and The Kids in the Hall.

Hackborn also worked as a production designer with director Donald Brittain on several CBC/National Film Board (NFB) co-productions including: Canada’s Sweetheart: the Saga of Hal C. Banks and The King Chronicles.

During his career, Mr. Hackborn was also responsible for the execution of a very large collection of photographs that document the processes of working on a television set.  With a professionally trained eye for composition and his camera, Mr. Hackborn systematically documented the television production process of the shows that he worked on.  Featured in some of these photographs are Jim Henson and Fred Rogers.

Fraggle Rock

As part of the Robert Hackborn Collection, Ryerson has several objects, textual records, and photographs related to the production of Fraggle Rock. Fraggle Rock was a popular children’s television show developed by Jim Henson and featuring his beloved live action puppets. The original English language version of the show ran for five seasons and 96 episodes between 1983 and 1987. On display are a group of photographs taken by Hackborn that show Jim Henson and others working with puppets on the set of Fraggle Rock, a sweatshirt and a children’s picture book produced as part of the show’s promotional marketing campaign, and three specially commissioned ‘Doozer’ figurines used by Hackborn during the set design process.

Hackborn is credited with the art direction for Fraggle Rock during the inaugural 1983-84 season, and as a set designer for two episodes in the second season.

The Glass Matte Shot

During his career at the CBC, Hackborn worked to pioneer various special visual effects techniques for television production including the “Glass Matte Shot”.  To achieve this effect, images were painted onto a transparent glass matte placed in the foreground of and realistically inserted into the “real world” shot.  This type of special effect was typically used to add facades onto buildings, or to create historically accurate ‘period’ effects for shows set in earlier times.  The CBC film drama I Married the Klondike, and several sketches from The Royal Canadian Air Farce feature great examples of how the glass matte technique was used. The “Glass Matte Shot” process relied on a strong proficiency in lens-angle mathematics and a mature artistic vision in order to generate a realistic perspective and convincing effect. Shooting techniques like these were an important cost-saving tool on many CBC productions.

Robert Hackborn retired from the CBC in 1993 after 38 years of service. Included in the collection here at the Ryerson Special Collections are photographic and textual documentation of the various film-based special effects pioneered and employed by Hackborn in his work, as well as documentation of the earliest show development process for the major children’s television programs Mr. Dressup and Mr. Rogers’ Neighbourhood. There are also records related to the creative processes behind Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock, including images of, and correspondence with Henson.

The Robert Hackborn collection represents a valuable resource for students and academics studying the history of Canadian television production and cultural output.

If you would like to see this display and part of the collection, or for more information, please drop by the 4^th floor of the library, or make an appointment: asc@ryerson.ca. You can search our Robert Hackborn Fonds online here.

The Hackborn collection has also been profiled in the summer 2013 edition of the Toronto Metropolitan University Magazine. “http://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/ryerson/alumni_2013summer/#/32.