1279
printed. The camera, reloaded with fresh fi lm, was then
returned to its owner with their negatives and a set of
prints. For the fi rst time, the act of picture-taking was
separated from that of picture-making. Contemporary
observers soon realised the signifi cance of the Kodak
System. Reviewing the Kodak, Scientifi c American
magazine concluded that ‘it promises to make the art of
photography well nigh universal.’ Ironically, of course,
in making photography universal it also directly chal-
lenged its claim to be regarded as an ‘art.’ How could
such a democratic and quotidian medium whose subjects
were largely drawn from the trivial and banal have any
pretensions towards ‘Art’?
Crucially, the Kodak was not aimed at existing
photographers but at a vast new untapped market that
Eastman had created for photography. As The Pho-
tographic News was quick to realise: ‘The Kodak is
intended...to bring into the ranks a new class—those
who do not wish to devote the time and attention which
is necessary to really practice photography, but who
desire to obtain records of a tour, or to obtain views for
other purposes’ (The Photographic News, 14 September
1888, 578). Eastman’s own advertising copy put it more
succinctly—‘Anybody can use it. Everybody will use it.’
With cameras placed in the hands of people who were
not perceived to be ‘photographers,’ the word snapshot
took on its third and current defi nition, meaning a pho-
tograph taken by an unsophisticated amateur, using a
simple camera. Today, it is the intent of the photographer
rather than the exposure time or choice of subject that
best serves to defi ne the snapshot. Whilst the majority of
snapshots are taken with comparatively brief exposures,
some are not. Moreover, whilst the word also implies a
degree of spontaneity, many snapshots are the result of
considerable preparation and arrangement of the subject.
The fundamental characteristic of the snapshot is that
it is a ‘naïve’ document motivated solely by a personal
desire to create a photographic record of a person, place,
or event with no artistic pretensions or commercial
considerations.
Following the success of the Kodak, the rapid intro-
duction of ever-cheaper camera models, culminating in
Eastman’s introduction of the Brownie camera in 1900,
removed many of the fi nancial as well as the technical
constraints that had delayed the popularization of pho-
tography. For the fi rst time, photography became truly
accessible to millions of people. In 1896, even before
the appearance of the Brownie, the writer, J. Ashby
Sterry, wrote about ‘these days of the universal Kodak
and perpetual snap-shooter’ (J. Ashby Sterry, A Tale of
The Thames, 1896). In 1899, The New Penny Magazine
in an article entitled ‘Snap-Shot Photography’ could
confi dently claim that ‘Almost everyone now has some
idea of the taking and making of a photographic picture’
(The New Penny Magazine, 1899, 282). The snapshot
had come of age.
Colin Harding
See also: Davison, George; Eastman, George;
Herschel, Sir John Frederick William; Kodak;
Camera Design: 5 Portable Hand Cameras (1880–
1900); Camera Design: 6 Kodak, (1888–1900); and
Instantaneous Photography.Further Reading
Coe, Brian, and Paul Gates, The Snapshot Photograph: The
Rise of Popular Photography, 1888–1939. London, Ash &
Grant, 1977.
Green, J. (ed.), The Snapshot, Aperture, 19, 1974.
Ford, Colin, and Karl Steinorth, You Press The Button, We Do
The Rest: The Birth of Snapshot Photography, London, Dirk
Nishen Publishing, 1988,
King, Graham, Say Cheese: The Snapshot as Art and Social His-
tory, London, Wiliam Collins Sons & Co Ltd, 1986.
Martin, Paul, Victorian Snapshots, London, Country Life Lim-
ited, 1939.
Nickel, Douglas R., Snapshots: The Photography of Everyday
life,1888 to the Present, San Francisco, San Francisco Mu-
seum of Modern Art, 1998 (exhibition catalogue).SNELLING, HENRY HUNT (1817–1897)
The History and Practice of the Art of Photography,
published in 1849, was the fi rst book from the pen of
Henry Hunt Snelling, who would go on to establish, edit,
and publish the infl uential Photographic Art Journal
in 1851.
A writer, editor and photographer, Snelling was born
in Plattsburg, New York, on November 8, 1817, where
his father, a colonel in the US Army, was stationed. He
spent much of his childhood travelling to new postings
with his parents, eventually settling in Detroit with his
mother in 1829 after his father’s death.
After a number of generally unsuccessful business
ventures, Snelling, in 1847, took up a position with Ed-
ward Anthony, then the major manufacturer and supplier
of photographic materials, equipment and accessories.
Questions about technique from customers reputedly
encouraged Snelling to believe that there was a market
for instruction manuals, and The History and Practice
of the Art of Photography appeared within two years.
It was, however, the monthly publication of The
Photographic Art Journal, renamed in 1854 The Pho-
tographic and Fine Art Journal, which established
Snelling as perhaps the most authoritative voice on the
development of American photography at the time. Two
further books, A Dictionary of the Photographic Art
(1854), and a Guide to the Whole Art of Photography
(1858) further cemented his reputation.
John Hannavy