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 todays 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 yesterdays snapshots are still so important today.
John Wade is a freelance writer and photographer, with more than forty years experience in both fields. He has written, illustrated, edited and contributed to more than thirty books, plus numerous magazine articles, for book and magazine publishers in the UK, US and Australia. His specialities are social history as well as photographic history and techniques. His most recent books include Transport Curiosities (Pen & Sword, 2022), Cameras at War (Pen & Sword, 2020); The Golden Age of Science Fiction (Pen & Sword, 2019), London Curiosities (Pen & Sword, 2017), and The Ingenious Victorians (Pen & Sword, 2016).
