The Invention of the Snapshot

The rise of digital cameras changed photography for all of us, because it eliminated the cost of film, the cost of developing, and the wait to find out if the picture you shot was any good. A hundred years earlier, there was another revolution in photography, when we went from only having expensive portraits shot in a studio by a professional to cameras that anyone could use, and therefore, the invention of the snapshot. The century in between was dominated by one company that produced not only the cameras, but the film for those cameras, and the developing of the pictures. Yes, it was Kodak, who took control of the photo industry by making us all photographers, rode that century of snapshots, and then retreated when their film was no longer needed. (via Digg)