By: Brandon Tung
The Man Who Revolutionized Modern Photography, George Eastman
Credits: Youtube and Life Stories
Tribute
If I could create a tribute/memorial of any kind for George Eastman, it would be a life-sized Kodak camera. I would do this because he invented this revolutionary Kodak camera which completely eliminated the use of all photographic plates, dry and wet(with film). This memorial( as George Eastman is already dead) would be called the The Eastman Kodak Camera Memorial. Why? Well, this is because he invented the Kodak which was a camera as the name includes the word "camera" in it and the name has both George Eastman's last name and the name of his company, Eastman Kodak, or also known as the Kodak Company. This memorial would be in Rochester, New York, more specifically in the Kodak Park or the Eastman Business Park. This is because first of all, the Eastman Kodak Company's headquarters are in ( used to be) in Rochester and secondly, the Eastman Business Park is (used to be) run by Kodak. This memorial would be made of black and brown polished marble as this is about the color of the real original Kodak camera and marble is a really fitting material as it really shows how he had to go through so many difficulties and challenges to found the Eastman Kodak Company. The colors would be black and brown (as the marble is black and brown) but on one side would be an engraving of him and his famous quote "You press the button, we do the rest" as this was his company's main "motto" and made everybody want to have a Kodak camera as it was an ad and on the other side would be big engraved words saying "THE EASTMAN KODAK CAMERA MEMORIAL" as this is the name of the memorial. The lens is going to be big enough so you can fit your head in and see the paragraphs/pictures telling about George Eastmans life and his accomplishments and then there is going to be a button next to the lens so that when you press it, it will turn the page as this really fits into what they did back then when you just had to look into the lens and "click!", you make history and so this would show his life just like pictures show history and also this is so that everyone who looks into the lens will have an understanding of who George Eastman was and what he did to revolutionize modern photography. And finally, this memorial would be a rectangle with a length and height of 5 feet and a width of 6 feet as this will allow almost everybody to see inside the lens. This is my idea for a memorial for George Eastman as it allows people to learn about the extraordinary inventor and the man who started today's modern photography, George Eastman. |
An Introduction To His life
Many would argue that modern photography was revolutionized by the invention of the digital camera. Today, almost everybody uses a digital camera but there would be no digital camera if it weren't for the first modern camera, invented by the man who revolutionized modern photography, George Eastman. Early Life George Eastman was born on July 12, 1854 in Waterville, New York to George Washington Eastman and Maria Eastman as the youngest child. He had two elder siblings, Ellen Maria and Katie, both older than him. In 1860, he and his family moved to Rochester, New York. In 1862, his father died of a brain disorder leaving Mrs.Eastman, George, Ellen, and Katie who had polio and later died when George was 16. The problem was that George's father had spent all their money on his dream; a business college for the people of Rochester and they had little money left to survive and afford George's schooling so Mrs.Eastman was forced to take in boarders (a boarder is a person who pays to live at somebody's house and be given regular meals). At age 13, George left school and got a job as a messenger boy. He made three dollars a week. The next year, he got promoted to an office boy. He then made thirty-five dollars a month. On his fifteenth birthday, George bought a century plant for his mother as she loved flowers and plants and said to his mother that "someday I shall fill your house with flowers." In 1874, George got a job as a junior bookkeeper at the Rochester Savings Bank (he was only twenty years old). He tried to find a hobby after getting a job. Now this is where it all started. How It Started After trying the flute and horseback riding as hobbies, he found that they weren't for him. This is when he discovered photography. After a few years of working at the bank, he decided that he needed a vacation. He decided that he wanted to go to Santo Domingo (the capital of the Dominican Republic). He soon bought a camera as one of his colleagues had just been to Santo Domingo and advised that he should buy a camera as the view was beautiful. After buying a camera (and a set of more than fifty pounds of equipment!), he started taking lessons. After a while, he forgot all about Santo Domingo and decided to go out to the countryside to take some photos. After coming back with only a few pictures, he thought," What if we didn't need to do all that hard work with wet plates? What if we could use dry plates?" After making his own gelatine emulsion formula( for the dry plate), he thought," I cannot be the only person tired of wet plates in America." After planning it all, George left the bank and went into the dry plate business, opening The Eastman Dry Plate Company with the help of a businessman named Colonel Henry A. Strong( George later founded the Henry A. Strong Memorial Hospital). After a while, he found that the gelatine went bad( as orders stopped coming in and complaints said that the plates would go bad before they could use them) and vowed that he would "test all materials from now on." Suddenly, an idea came to him. "What if photographers didn't need plates at all!" That's when he invented film. All you had to do was wind the film around a mahogany mechanism and walla! It was ready to go. In 1888, George Eastman invented the light-weight, box-shaped, pre-winded camera, also known as the Kodak. In 1889, he hired a chemist and a secretary. The chemist, Henry Reichenbach, later developed a transparent and flexible film and the secretary helped him keep up with his work. That's when he decided to expand his factory. The Eastman Kodak Company In 1889, George decided to buy three farm properties in the outskirts of Rochester. This became what is known as the Kodak Park. In December of 1889, he started the Eastman Kodak Company. In 1891, the Eastman Kodak Company invented spooled film. This new film was pre-winded as the older one had to be wound outside the camera, which could only be done in a darkroom unlike spooled film as it can be put into a camera in broad daylight. In 1896, he started plants all over the world. In 1900, the Kodak Company invented the Brownie, mainly for kids. This marvel only cost 1$! After a while, he realized he was a millionaire. Fortune George Eastman started donating and building public buildings everywhere. For example, he started a hospital in honor of Henry A. Strong( as it was called Henry A. Strong Memorial Hospital) and also sent a very large amount of money to MIT under the name "Mr.Smith". Later, he bought his mother a mansion but sadly, in 1918, his mother died. He also established the Eastman School of Music as he loved music. Sadly, his life was about to end. Death On March 14, 1932, George Eastman commit suicide as he was suffering from spinal issues and later became depressed because of this. He put a bullet through his heart and left a note to his friends saying,"My work is done, why wait?" Legacy Even though George Eastman never married or had children, his legacy still lives on. Sadly though, the Eastman Kodak Company no longer exists. But without George Eastman, photography would never have been like this. This is the life, accomplishments, and death of the great inventor, the man who revolutionized modern photography, and the founder of the Eastman Kodak Company and film and the Kodak camera, George Eastman. |
Fun Facts:
Did you know that Thomas Edison once ordered a camera and film to work on his motion-picture camera?
Did you know that George Eastman once almost got killed by a rhino on an African safari?
Did you know that George Eastman smoked?
Did you know that George Eastman had a butt chin?
Did you know that George Eastman's mansion is priceless?
Did you know that Thomas Edison once ordered a camera and film to work on his motion-picture camera?
Did you know that George Eastman once almost got killed by a rhino on an African safari?
Did you know that George Eastman smoked?
Did you know that George Eastman had a butt chin?
Did you know that George Eastman's mansion is priceless?
CREDITS:
2009 WORLD ALMANAC
"CLICK!" A STORY ABOUT GEORGE EASTMAN
MACKIN VIA AND BIOGRAPHY IN CONTEXT
WWW.KODAK.COM
YOUTUBE
MUSEUM.MIT.EDU
WWW.KODAK.COM
WIKIPEDIA(A LITTLE)
WWW.BIOGRAPHY.COM
WWW.WEEBLY.COM
DICTIONARY.COM
GOOGLE IMAGES
GOOGLE
OTHER...
ME!
2009 WORLD ALMANAC
"CLICK!" A STORY ABOUT GEORGE EASTMAN
MACKIN VIA AND BIOGRAPHY IN CONTEXT
WWW.KODAK.COM
YOUTUBE
MUSEUM.MIT.EDU
WWW.KODAK.COM
WIKIPEDIA(A LITTLE)
WWW.BIOGRAPHY.COM
WWW.WEEBLY.COM
DICTIONARY.COM
GOOGLE IMAGES
OTHER...
ME!