An evolution of snapshot photography from Victorian times to the digital age.

The arrival of the first snapshot camera in Victorian times bred a new kind of photographer, one who might never before have thought of owning a camera, but for whom the ability to take pictures without any previous experience offered a new liberation. The way snapshot cameras and the pictures they took evolved through the following years and into today’s digital age is what this book is all about. With more than 200 mono pictures and sixteen pages of color, it examines how different types of snapshot camera opened up opportunities to shoot new kinds of picture; reveals the dubious way in which snapshot photographers were once perceived; shows how to identify where and when certain snapshots were taken; looks at the role of professional snapshot photographers; examines the part snapshots have played in social history; and explains why yesterday’s snapshots are still so important today.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The First Snapshot Camera
• Chapter 2 What Came Next
• Chapter 3 Snapshots While You Wait
• Chapter 4 The Rise of the Brownie
• Chapter 5 Snapshots go to War
• Chapter 6 A New Snapshot Age
• Chapter 7 Colour Comes to Snapshots
• Chapter 8 Snapshots in the Second World War
• Chapter 9 Instant Snapshots
• Chapter 10 Every Home Should Have One
• Chapter 11 The Instamatic Years
• Chapter 12 Disposable Cameras
• Chapter 13 Into the Digital Age
• Picture Credits
• Plates