Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Future of Photography (1964)

The September 27, 1964 Gastonia Gazette (Gastonia, NC) quotes Wolf Wehran, a representative of the Camera Industries of West Germany, (and probable superhero given his badass name), about the future of photography:
"I believe the photo industry will some day eliminate the processing operation as we know it today. They will dehydrate it - that is, take the water and the mess out of it.

"Instead of liquid solutions and time and temperature factors, it would be simpler to deal with a radiation or heat process to activate the latent image.

"The photograph would take his pictures with an automatic camera, wind the film or sensitized material through a box at home or anywhere he happens to be and out would come the strip of finished negatives, transparencies or prints. It is logically and practical and the trend of the industry thinking is in that direction."
The author of the article then seems to mock the very idea with a flippant comment about crystal balls.
If you can't buy a camera or processing box like that, maybe you can shop around for a crystal ball. It certainly makes beautiful pictures.

Read more:
Movies to be Produced in Every Home (1925)
Television of Tomorrow (1974)

7 comments:

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Ashley said...

Well, that's not too far off... Polaroid cameras really took off in the mid-60s, and 1-hour photo places started sometime around the 80s. Once they had wet machines that could process film quickly, the demand for a dry process probably evaporated.

GeoSolus said...

This reminds me of something Jim Morrison said about future music. It will be one person with a selection of machines creating everything.

Mark Plus said...

Polaroid instant photography didn't stay "futuristic" for very long. The company reportedly has stopped manufacturing film for its instant cameras because digital cameras have made them obsolete.

said...

Futurist anachronisms

Anonymous said...

Handeldvapen
HD dom och polisen löser 6% brott (3 per polisman och år). Barnomsorgen inte löser sina uppgifter (lösa dom själv).
Borde man få försvara sig själv.
Mord kommer ske oavsett hur man gör (förebygga så kulan inte når en).

Anonymous said...

...and now it's all done digitally. No chemicals (or crystal balls) required.