George Eastman Research Paper

“You press the button, we do the rest.” (George Eastman) This is the slogan for a very well known camera and film company, created by a man with the goal of making photography “as convenient as the pencil.” George Eastman founded and built the Eastman Kodak Company, revolutionizing the way photographs were taken. He made the “cumbersome and complicated process easy to use and accessible to nearly everyone.”

George Eastman was born in Waterville, New York on July 12, 1854. He was raised mainly by his mother due to his father working two jobs in Waterville and Rochester, NY followed by his demise in 1862. He was the third of four children, and the only boy. In 1970 he lost his eldest sister to polio. His family, now living in Rochester, was

He became obsessed with photography and became the willing young pupil of two amateur photographers in Rochester. While reading the “British Journal of Photography” he was inspired to improve the dry-plate photography. In attempting to improve this method of photography, Eastman created a gelatin-based paper film and machine for coating dry plates. He sold these dry plates as his first business in 1880 while still working at the bank. Eastman’s career received a huge boost when a major photography supplier started buying from him. In 1881 he resigned from the bank after being passed over for a promotion he deserved. From there he hired William Hall Walker, a camera inventor and manufacturer, to design the Eastman-Walker Roll Holder. The Roll Holder allowed photographers to have paper film advanced through the camera instead of the bulky single plates. This was the basis for the first Kodak cameras. The name Kodak was first introduced by Eastman in December of 1887. In February of 1889, the first transparent flexible film, introduced by chemist Henry Reichenbach, became the center of Eastman’s world. Through the 1890’s Eastman and his company fell on hard times due to the demise of Reichenbach, but were soon lifted when Eastman introduced the “Brownie” camera, at a cost of one dollar, in 1900. This and the other successes of Eastman put his company at the front of the photographic