Fixing the Shadows

Fixing the shadows is the first of a 6-part documentary by the BBC depicting the history of photography and its influence on developing the modern world.

While photography was known to have been invented in 1939, there is evidence of it's use as far back as 1802. This evidence is in the form of the camera obscura, which is known to have exceeded photography. The camera obscura was the study of light sensitive chemicals. This can be produced by making a room completely black, only leaving a small hole for outside light to enter the room. The result was an inverted reflection inside the room of the outside world. The problem at the time was they could produce an image using this process but they could not halt the development cycle and prevent the images from turning completely black.

Louis Daguerre

The program also explains the work of Louis Daguerre, which is starting to become re-used in modern day photography. Daguerre's process produced one of a kind images which could not be duplicated. Although at the same time, he was in competition with Talbot Fox who was working on a print process which could allow duplicate copies to be produced at a more reasonable price. In the end market forces trumped and Fox's Calotype process prevailed.





The documentary also goes into a little detail of the role George Eastman played in photography by setting up the Kodak company to produce portable cameras. These were known as Brownie cameras and revolutionised photography by bringing it to the masses. It was originally sold with children in mind for $1 and introduced the film roll and cheap cameras. They coined the slogan "You press the button, we'll do the rest", meaning that any amateur could pick up a camera and simply take pictures before posting them off for Kodak to develop. The circular print from the film roll became the distinctive emblem of the amateur photographer or 'Kodak fiends' as they became known.