blinding me with a news photographer’s flash – courtesy of eazywallz.
Toronto. In the 1800s, efforts to use photography and its very slow media under poor lighting (i.e. less than full sunlight) resulted in the invention of flash powder ignited in a long narrow tray held high(ish) by the photographer.
As usual, the law of unexpected consequences stepped in: photographers unfamiliar with flash powder – or very inept in general came away from a session eye-brow-less or worse! To solve that problem, flash bulbs were perfected. Many sizes were made over the years to vary the illumination, sync with various kinds of shutters, balance colour temperature, etc.
The image used here is from a website, eazywallz which sells wall paper and murals. (Late PHSC executive Larry Boccioletti amassed and sold flash bulbs. I once quipped he could advertise the bulbs as ‘only used once’. He never did.)
Mid 20th century efforts went towards harnessing Edgerton’s strobe light experiments and the detachable electronic flash was born. Early models were expensive and photographers often resorted to using flash bulbs instead. As electronic flash guns got smaller, they were equipped with an accessory shoe for camera body mounting. Eventually they became so small that electronic flash was incorporated in camera bodies.
By the time digital cameras became prominent, all cameras sold to amateurs came with built-in electronic flash. This idea carried over to the smartphones of today with even tinier built-in electronic flash and they evolved to both flash and a built-in flashlight – very handy.
NB. The title here is a riff on Thomas Dolby’s 1983 song, “She Blinded me with Science” (I have Dolby’s CD which includes this song).
