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Niépce essentially took the first real photograph ever, titled “View from the Window at Le Gras”. This was the start of everything photography would become.
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Eastman made a camera anyone could use and said, “You press the button, we do the rest.” No more complicated darkroom stuff. Suddenly, photography was for everyone.
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Maxwell figured out you could take three black-and-white pics with red, green, and blue filters and mix them to get color. It was super early and way ahead of its time. Color photography wouldn’t really be practical for a while after that.
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Leica made cameras small, portable, and still high quality. You can carry one around without a hassle. It totally changed how people took pictures of life as it happened.
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Kodachrome was the first color film most people could actually get their hands on. It made photos look vivid and real. People loved it, and it basically shaped how we remember stuff in color.
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Land made a camera that could spit out a photo in minutes. Instant pics were wild at the time. It made casual, everyday photography way more fun.
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Sasson built a prototype that saved black-and-white images onto a cassette tape. It was clunky, but it was the first digital camera ever. That thing changed everything for how we take photos today.
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Kodak turned a Nikon F3 into a pro digital camera. Photographers could finally get high-quality images without using film. This was a huge step for professional photography going digital.
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Sharp put a camera in a phone so you could take and send pics anywhere. It’s basically the start of mobile photography. After this, snapping pics on your phone became normal.
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Instagram let everyone post pictures instantly and make them look cooler with filters. It blew up social photography. Suddenly, taking and sharing photos was part of everyday life.