Fun Facts from the Kodak Brownie Camera page says the Brownie camera is considered by many experts to be the most important camera ever manufactured. The reason is that it was produced so cheaply that anyone, not just professionals or people of means, could own it. Because it was so simple to use, anyone could operate it right out of the box.
The film was also cheap, even for 1900. For less than $2 anyone could buy The Brownie, a roll of film, and get it processed. The February 1900 Trade Circular lists a six-exposure roll of transparent film at $0.15, paper-negative film at $0.10, and $0.40 for processing them.
The Brownie also showed the marketing genius of George Eastman who was first a film manufacturer, but he could see what bringing photography to the masses, especially marketing to young people, via cheap but durable cameras would mean for future film sales and processing. A camera in every home meant a lot of film to be sold and processed. He could not have been more correct and the very first Brownie camera was shipped on Feb. 8, 1900, and gave birth to the snapshot.
Do you remember the very first birthday or Christmas on which you received your very own camera? Chances are that it was a Brownie, especially if you were a youngster. I do remember mine and I believe it was on Christmas when I opened the box. I have to admit that I wasn’t much of a photographer as a kid and if I still have any of the photos I took with that old Brownie camera I don’t know where they are or what happened to them. Don’t ask me how much I now regret that decision as a young girl. My only excuse is I think I must have been living the pictures and storing them away as future fodder for written memories or artwork.
I had two good examples of family photographers in my mom and my older sister. They were constantly snapping photos of friends and family members and of the scenery we enjoyed when traveling. Maybe being the “baby” of the family had something to do with neglecting to take advantage of my old Brownie camera since all my siblings were so much older and they were always a bit more “in charge” of things around the Thurman household.
I do love photography these days and have ever since I had a family of my own. I wasn’t about to trust my memory when it came to photos of my two sons, so just about every time I left the house and even while at home, there was a camera handy. That doesn’t mean, however, that I don’t still regret not making use of my Brownie as a young person. I wish I had photos of the record-setting snows I recall when I was in grade school especially.
I guess I remember those snows so vividly because, back then, most kids really did walk to and from school and had a bang-up time doing so. We didn’t walk alone either. We usually met up at some point with other kids from our grade school class and finished the journey rolling a few snowballs or eating a bit of the white stuff and playing like it was ice cream. Snow angels were the most fun to make and Bartlesville playgrounds were some of the best places of all to make them. And these were the days when we weren’t afraid to play with icicles we were able to capture and have sword fights with. These were the days we weren’t afraid of getting “our eye shot out” if we happened to get a Red Ryder BB gun in addition to a Brownie camera.
Yep. I’d take more photos of snow scenes and my old dog and my Kiddy Car if I could do it over again, but if I knew then what I know now it would be the places and faces and fun and celebrations I’d capture on my old Brownie. I’d have taken more photos of my cousins and the sleepovers we had the night we dropped the pie on the kitchen floor and ate it all up with spoons. I’d have taken more pictures of the friends I’ve lost track of since then. And more photos of Sunset Lake and camp at Osage Hills and Scout camp and church camp and Bartlesville parades and more places than I’m able to recall these days.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and after hearing it way over 50 years now, I guess I finally agree because I’ve spent so much of the last 25 years or so trying to record in words the memories I could have also captured on film. I can see, in my mind’s eye, my mother as she stood at her kitchen cabinet preparing all the wonderful meals my siblings and I enjoyed so much but I don’t have a photograph of her doing so. I remember so many wonderful trips to visit friends and family members, but I don’t have photos which I took and can call my own all these years later.
I guess what I’m saying is, if you don’t still own a Brownie camera they are not all that hard to come by if you’re really looking for one. Auctions, yard sales, Goodwill Stores, etc. have them for sale quite often and shooting photos with the old-fashioned film produces a challenge our children and grandchildren just might enjoy more than you think. Go to shutterbug.com and check out the article written by Michael Chiusano, a retired advertising photographer who now shoots personal projects and occasional client assignments with his Brownie Hawkeye.
Carpe Diem!
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Contact Rita Thurman Barnes at ritathurmanbarnes@swbell.net.