an old folder
Toronto. From its invention in 1839 until dry plates hit the market, photography was for specialists only – people with the skill and art necessary for the taking of a good ‘likeness’.
When dry plates hit the market, followed about a decade later by roll film, all this changed and photographs could be taken by an amateur and processed and printed later by a professional.
By the mid following century, kids could be given a cheap box camera, budding amateurs a folder, and the high end professional could use a camera with increased complexity and flexibility.
Late last century the digital era hit and by this century every smartphone had a sophisticated camera built in, giving full colour instantaneously, with the ability to save and send the image anywhere.
