The release of the 1921 Census for England and Wales in January 2022 has shone a spotlight on the inter-war era and nothing illuminates the past more vividly than family photographs depicting recent ancestors, close relatives and even perhaps ourselves as youngsters during those years.
Home cameras & snapshot photography
During the 1920s and 1930s the general public’s experience of photography was changing as, following wartime trends, many households acquired home cameras. Like professional photographers, dedicated hobbyists who had been practising photography since the late-Victorian and Edwardian era still favoured traditional glass plate apparatus that required considerable expertise and special facilities. However, typical post-war enthusiasts were more interested in the end product than learning complicated technical processes. For a new generation of amateur photographers, the Kodak Box Brownie (launched in 1900, still in high demand and costing just 5 shillings on the eve of WW2) and other box, folding and vest pocket cameras were simpler to use and produced easier results.
Relatively inexpensive, portable and user-friendly, popular home cameras were loaded with celluloid roll film that, when finished, was processed commercially. Camera manufacturers worked hard between the wars to develop lighter and cheaper models, the use of new plastics and Bakelite a key feature at this time.
Hoping to attract more female photographers by
