*** England photography snapshot








English Photography: Snapshots--Chronology

English snapshot
Figure 1.--Here we see a square format English snapshot taken on a Whit Friday whit walk somewhere in England. Notice the rather wide white margin. The photograph is not dated, but looks like the late-1950s to us.

We see some family photographs before the turn-of the 20th century. We are not sure that they can be called sanp shots. The cameras were bulky and difficult to use. No simple point and shoot cameras existed. And the processoing was complicated. Fathers taking these photographs needed to be photographic entusiasts willing to devote time and money to their hobby. This all changed with the Kodak Brownie (1900). Virtually anyone could now take a photograph. All you had to do was to point the ameral in the right direction and click the shutter. Than when all the exosures take, mail gthe camera back to Kodak. It was virtually fool proof. The resulting prints susequently varied in different ways which we can follow decacade by decade. Most early prints were done in 3x5" postcard size ptints. A major variant for many years was the white border found on many sanpshots. This was needed to keep the photographic paper flat during the printing process, but width of the margin help to date it. We see a medium width white margin on the previous page (1930s). Other indicators were the size and dimensions of the paper. The paper edging also caried with both smooth and serated edges. After World War II we begin to see some dates printed in the white margin. We begin to see color snapshots (1940s), but they were not common until much later (1970s). We begin to see more square prints (1950s). Printed snapshots began to decline with the turn of the 21st centuey and the rise of digital photography. One helpul feature of some digiatal images is that some had water mark dates.

The 19th Century

We see some family photographs before the turn-of the 20th century. We are not sure that they can be called sanpshots. The cameras were bulky and difficult to use. No simple point and shoot cameras existed. And the processing was complicated. Fathers taking these photographs needed to be photographic entusiasts willing to devote time and money to their hobby. Thus some existed, but not very many. It was just not something that average people could do. Only people with considerable time and interest were able to do this. Thus photographs from the 19th century do exist, al least from the late 19th century, but not very many. It would be a stretch to call them snap shots. That suggests an easy to take and process photograph. We note white margin prints in the early-20th century. We are not sure if there were any in the late-19th century. We have not found any dated prints from the late-19th century.

The 20th Century

Taking photographs all changed funfamentally with the Kodak Brownie (1900). Of course that was in America. But we believe that Kodak began marketing the Brownie in England very soon after it was introduced in America. We assume that British companies began offering similar systems. With the Briownie or similar camera virtually anyone could now take a photograph. Any it took photography out of the studio. You could take a photograph virtully wherever you went. All you had to do was to point the ameral in the right direction and click the shutter. Than when all the exosures taken, mail the camera back to Kodak. It was virtually fool proof. The resulting prints susequently varied in different ways which we can follow decacade by decade. Most American early prints were done in 3x5" postcard back prints. We are not sure how common that was in England. A major variant for many years was the white border found on many sanpshots. We see these in England from an early point. This was needed to keep the photographic paper flat during the printing process. Soon a range of didderentcameras wee developed. Andyoun could take your film injtolocalmshops. And as the century developed we see faster emulsions expanding when and where photographs could be taken. Flash bulbs allowed indoor photographs. The width of white margin prints help to date them. We see a medium width white margin on the previous page (1930s). Other indicators were the size and dimensions of the paper. The paper edging also caried with both smooth and serated edges. After World War II we begin to see some dates printed in the white margin. We begin to see color snapshots (1940s), but they were not common until much later (1970s). We begin to see more square prints (1950s). The photograph here is a good example (figure 1). Color film was develooped begfore World War II, but it was not very common until the mid-1970s.

The 21st Century

Printed snapshots began to decline with the turn of the 21st centuey and the rise of digital photography. One helpul feature of some digiatal images is that some have water mark dates.








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Created: 7:17 PM 3/9/2019
Last updated: 6:39 AM 6/14/2019