12 12 October (^2019) Iw
1884
First issue of
The Amateur
Photographer
published, edited
by J Harris Stone
1900
Kodak launches the
Brownie box camera.
It used 127-format
roll fi lm and cost $
1908
First AP cover picture
1908
Merged with
Photographic News,
with the editor
(F J Mortimer)
of Photographic
News becoming the
editor of the newly
merged magazine
1914
Leica Camera
founded by
Ernst Leitz
1917
Nikon is founded as
Nippon Kogaku
Tokyo
1918
AP combines
with Photography,
to become
The Amateur
Photographer and
Photography. The
‘and Photography’
was dropped in 1925
1919
Olympus is founded,
making microscopes
and thermometers.
Its fi rst camera is
introduced in 1936
1934
Fuji Photo Film Co. is
established, with the
aim of being the fi rst
Japanese producer of
photographic fi lms
1937
The Precision
Optical Instruments
Laboratory is founded
in Japan, the origins
of what would later
become Canon Inc
Amateur Photographer is the most
professional photography magazine
being published today.’ 25 years after that
comment, we still believe it to be true.
In the beginning
Our very fi rst issue was edited by Mr J
Harris Stone and was intended to be
‘devoted to the interests of Photography and
kindred arts and sciences’. Its cost was 2d (a
price that would, remarkably, stay the same
for 33 years). Other weekly photographic
publications existed, but none truly catered
for the rising number of ‘amateurs’ that
Harris Stone was keen to reach.
Harris Stone wrote this in the very fi rst
issue: ‘Photography has, within the last few
years, become so popular with amateurs,
that at the present time their number
vastly outnumbers that of professional
photographers.’
Amusingly enough, readers of the fi rst ever
issue of The Amateur Photographer wouldn’t
fi nd a single photograph in its pages. It
would be 24 years before a photograph
graced the front page – in the 12 May 1908
edition. It was 1962 before the fi rst colour
issue hit the shelves.
During its 135 years, AP has faced its fair
share of struggles, but the team has always
managed to get an issue out every week even
during both World Wars. During the Second
World War, the issues were thinner and
had to be ordered especially, but they still
ploughed on regardless. The team even got a
copy out in the tragic week when the editor
for 36 years, F J Mortimer, was killed by a
V-1 missile (doodlebug) attack on London’s
Waterloo Station while he was on his way
to the AP offi ce.
In terms of tone, content and style, AP
has also had a varied history. The staid and
arguably stuff y pages of the fi rst few decades
would give way to cheerful-looking portraits
and documentary scenes by the 1920s, while
the covers of the 1970s and 1980s were such
that the magazine was often referred to
as ‘Amateur Pornographer’. In the 1990s,
this kind of cover was gradually dropped
and AP returned to its earlier focus on
equipment, technique and interviews with
photographers. It retains that kind of style
today with probably the most diverse set of
contributors we’ve ever had.
Into the future
Here we are, at issue no. 6,968. Could
J Harris Stone have envisaged we’d still be
celebrating the amateur photographer? It
hardly seems likely, just as it’s hard for us
to imagine what the world, the media or
photography will look like in 135 years’ time.
If recent trends for photography are to
carry on, with pretty much every person
equipped with a camera (phone), and more
photos taken than ever before – there may
well continue to be a market for amateur
photographers to learn and celebrate
their passion for another 135 years.
135 years
A brief summary of the biggest milestones in
AP’s 135-year history, and the major landmarks
in photography during AP’s existence
AP SINCE THE BEGINNING
The Leica 1 made
35mm truly viable