Abstract

The last decade of the nineteenth century marked a point of transition in the history of photography. The increasing popularity of hand-held cameras, instantaneous exposures and commercial film processing transformed the medium of photography from an esoteric practice into a popular pastime. The Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company's Kodak Camera, introduced in 1888 with the slogan "You press the button, we do the rest," embodied the new approach to photography. This thesis looks at two amateur photograph albums that document travel through Quebec during this period. Our Quebec Trip , from the collection of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, records a trip to Quebec City and the surrounding region during August of 1896. Souvenir of a few pleasant summer days , held in the collection of the McCord Museum of Canadian History, chronicles a nine-day trip from Montreal to Quebec City in the summer of 1898. The albums are examined alongside camera advertisements, instruction manuals and photographic journals that created the culture surrounding the camera at the turn of the century and which instructed growing numbers of camera-owners on how to use their cameras. The respective influences of the serious amateurs who promoted photography as a fine art and the photographic industry that sought to expand its market are considered in relation to the aesthetics of the two albums.