Kodak — Get the picture?

Dear reader, I am honestly trying to do something different here; I promise. I am struggling to put aside my obsession with US presidential race memes (go here if you have not seen my growing collection). While thinking to myself recently, lo and behold, almost immediately, the image above landed in my social media feed.

I thought, what? Is this some sort of AI-generated redux? Is this a model reconstruction for a grade eight science project? What’s going on. Following some research I discovered that in the early days of photography, and especially in the history of the Eastman Kodak Company, large versions of early consumer cameras were driven all over New York State on trucks and wagons—to trade fairs, to conventions, and to meetings of camera and photographic enthusiasts—they were part of one of the greatest advertising campaigns ever, an early product of Madison Avenue promotional ingenuity.

Can you imagine, if the 2024 Democratic and Republican electoral teams developed similar strategies? Massive caricatures of Harris and Don-Old, trolling opposite sides of every city street where you live? Maybe blimps or satellites could join the fray. Sky writing be damned; how about a SpaceX promotional launch. (Never say never, where Musk is involved!)

Anyway, back to my story, the story of Kodak advertising, and the story of the rise and fall of Kodak itself. It’s the stuff of commercial legend. Given my personal interest in photography, and the connection Kodak has had with literally millions of consumers worldwide for most of the 20^th century—we know the name (which actually stands for nothing—George Eastman simply liked the letter “K” and thought the name unique and easy to spell and to remember—we know the colour, and we remember the product.

The name Kodak, the colour scheme, and the various brand images through the years  found their way into our homes in one way through the world of children’s toys. If you want parents to pay attention to your product, hook the adults through the kids. I am not aware that Kodak images appeared on milk cartons or on cereal boxes. But even today, collectors snatch up Kodak car and truck models at every opportunity.

Through many different means, Kodak put photography into the hands of everyone. From affordable cameras, to the invention of roll film canisters complete with processing technology, well it all came together in the slogan: “You take the picture: We do the rest.” So user-friendly; so brilliant.

The innovation did not stop there however. Remember “Kodak moments?” And how about “Kodak Picture Spots?” You help people take and enjoy pictures; you next suggest where and when to take pictures; you follow this up with increasing miniaturization (not unlike mobile phone technology in our own day); in the end you build a global industry; and everyone wins.

So I ask you, dear reader, where were you when you received your first Kodak camera?  Mine was the Instamatic 104 which came with a four-shot revolving flash cube on top. Man I thought I worked for the New York Times with that portable beast. I remember taking pictures of the Apollo 8 exhibition at the Vancouver Planetarium with that little cartridge camera—the film came with a mail-in bag as the cost of processing was at that time included with the film purchase). Life was sweet for us budding journalists. Kodak helped us live life to the full, in prints or in slides—Kodachrome (remember the song?).

So I must ask the inevitable question; why did everything come tumbling down? Why did Kodak go bankrupt in 2012? The video here attempts a nuanced answer. Certainly while Kodak INVENTED the first digital camera in 1972, they did not pay enough attention to its creation. They sat on it; possibly they hoped the threat to film and to everything they had created would quietly disappear. History has proved otherwise. Film development and even printing itself has all but disappeared except in artistic centres where young photographers crave chemical darkroom experience after years of digital COVID captivity.

The infographic above tells the story in the same way that an Orthodox Icon describes the faith. It all comes together, though with Kodak, there’s a definite beginning and an end. It’s almost biblical.

As for how the US presidential election ends, it will be up to the electoral college. I will continue however to monitor and share how imagery plays out its own roll, no longer with trucks on city streets, but through the miraculous and messed-up media available to us today. So how about Trump emblazoned on a Space-X rocket. Maybe he’ll take a trip, and never return.