George Eastman: Invented the Camera
"You Press The Button, We Do The Rest"
Early Life
George Eastman was born on July 12th, 1854 in Waterville New York. Eastman's father died when he was 8 years old. One of Eastman's oldest sister was in a wheelchair due to polio and died when he was 16 years old. Eastman dropped out of school when he was 14 so he could get a job to help support his family. He started as a messenger and office boy for insurance companies and studied accounting at home to qualify for a higher salary. Eventually Eastman got a job as a bookkeeper at the Rochester Saving Bank.
What Was Eastman's Motivations?
When Eastman was 24, he planned a trip to visit the city Santo Domingo, due to the advice of a colleague. He wanted to document his trip, but the photography equipment alone was enormous, heavy, and expensive. Eastman never took the trip, but bought all the equipment. Instead of going on his trip, he spent time researching how to make photography lighter in weight and easier for the average people to use.
The process of Creating the Camera and Company
Eastman formulated a gelatin-based a device for dry plates and paper film. He left his job after launching his fledgling photography company in 1880. The camera inventor William Hall Walker and Eastman developed a roll-hold device and got a patent for it in 1885. Camera's were no cheaper and smaller. Eastman started the Kodak company, a now popular camera brand. The first Kodak Camera was launched in 1888. The company slogan is "You press the button, we do the rest'', which was meant to describe how the camera was sent to the company after 100 exposures on the roll film;they developed the pictures and sent it back. Eastman hired a chemist Henry Reichenbach to develop a type of flexible film that would be easy to insert into the camera in 1889. In 1990 the Brownie camera was launched.
Eastman's Death
Eastman suffered from diabetes. On March 14,1932 Eastman took his life with a single gun shot to the heart. " My work is done. Why wait?'', Was the note he left when he committed suicide. Eastman never got married. He was 77 years old when he died.