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In 1900, a person could buy a camera for one dollar.

That was the technological break that changed photography from something requiring specialist knowledge into something ordinary people could do themselves. The Kodak Brownie was deliberately simple: a box, a fixed lens, basic controls and roll film. The camera cost $1 and a roll of film cost 15 cents. Within five years, Kodak had sold more than 1.2 million Brownies, and nearly one-third of the U.S. population had been drawn into photography.

Before this, photography had largely belonged to professionals, trained operators and relatively affluent amateurs. The earlier Kodak camera, introduced in 1888, cost $25—far beyond the reach of most people. The Brownie changed the social composition of photography, reaching middle- and working-class consumers, women and children. Kodak advertising deliberately presented women as camera users, helping establish photography as part of ordinary domestic and leisure life.

1900–1930: The snapshot becomes personal.
The technology changed what was worth photographing. Formal portraits remained important, but holidays, birthdays, children, friends and everyday incidents increasingly became photographic subjects. By around 1910, approximately one-third of American families owned a camera. The typical amateur did not need advanced education or photographic training; the attraction was precisely that the technical work had been removed from the user’s hands. “431 words to go. A donation keeps you reading and supports our independence. Thank you!”

By Edge of Humanity Magazine