The Brownie Camera

The Brownie Camera could arguably be the first everyday camera as it was cheap, easy to use and hugely popular. It was designed in the late 18th century by Frank Brownell who was asked by George Eastman, the owner of Kodak, to produce a cheap yet effective camera. And that's exactly what he did. By using cheap materials and mass production, they managed to reach their aim of increasing sales by making photography easy and affordable for everyone. Originally, the cameras were intended for children and so, were named 'Brownies' after a popular television character, however, it soon became apparent that their popularity lay with adults. This was mainly down to their ease of use and price as they cost only 5 shillings in Britain (25 pence). They had an f/14 meniscus lens and a simple rotary shutter for time and instantaneous exposures. If a viewfinder was needed it had to be bought separately and clipped on and only six 2 and 1/4 inch square negatives could be taken. However, for a small five inches long, three inches high and three inches wide box, it was a great success.
Brownies were very simple cameras and followed a similar process to the Box camera. The process of taking a photograph using a Brownie camera went as follows: the shutter is opened to allow light, that has been reflected by the object being photographed, to pass into the lens. To let in more light, the shutter is kept open for longer and vice versa. Once the light has passed through the lens an image of the object is formed on the light sensitive paper at the back of the camera. This image is inverted, similarly to how our eyes invert images on our retinas. The image is then developed using specific chemicals to form the final photograph.
I found Brownie cameras very interesting to research as they are very simple yet effective cameras and appear to be very influential in everyday photography. They also seem to be very nostalgic items that played a large part in the idea of recording visual memories. I love the simplicity of Brownie cameras too as so often nowadays cameras overly complicated. Clearly, they were a huge success not only in the photography world but also in the everyday life of consumers.

Bibliography: https://nationalmediamuseumblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/a-z-photography-collection-b-is-for-brownie/

http://www.brownie-camera.com/articles/petelutz/article.shtml

Autumunal Leaves

I took this picture in my garden at the start of September and I am very happy with it. My aim was to capture the autumnal colours which was quite difficult as I had to get very close to the leaves in order to avoid cluttering the frame, but I am very pleased with the result as the depth of field keeps the attention on the leaf in focus while still capturing the strong colours of Autumn. The picture is in keeping with my theme of Time as it illustrates a season. I took the picture on my bridge camera, a Lumix FZ200, with an aperture of f/4, an ISO of 100 and a shutter speed of 1/125 seconds.

An Introduction

As this is my first post on my blog, I thought I would describe what it is I am planning to post on here. I will be using this blog to document my progress on the Media and Communications course I am studying with East of Scotland Academies. As I am studying An Introduction to Photography and Writing for the Media, I will post a variety of photographs shot by myself, all of which will in keep with the theme of Time. I will also write about different photographic techniques and equipment and photographers I find particularly interesting, all the while using writing techniques I learn in Writing for the Media.