Summary

Black and white, sepia toned photograph of a home built contact printing box, Kodak Australasia,Abbotsford, Victoria, 1920-1940s.

A contact printing box is an exposure box device used in a darkroom and is operated in the dark, or under a safe light. An exposed and developed piece of photographic film is placed emulsion side down against a piece of light sensitive, photographic paper. A light is briefly shone through the negative. The secondary piece of paper is developed into a contact print.

Kodak manufactured and distributed a wide range of photographic products to Australasia, such as film, paper, chemicals, cameras and miscellaneous equipment. Its client base included amateur and professional photographers, as well as specialist medical and graphic art professionals who used photography, x-ray and other imaging techniques.

This photograph is part of the Kodak collection of products, promotional materials, photographs and working life artefacts collected from Kodak Australasia in 2005, when the Melbourne manufacturing plant at Coburg closed down.

Description of Content

Photograph of a pine box construction, attached with nails to a wall. There is an electrical chord coming from the lid of the box and is leading out of the picture frame to the front. On top of the box, a rectangular piece of wood is screwed onto the lid and there are two metal strips positioned vertically and there are electrical wires soldered to the strips, with one wire running through the metal. A piece of wire is running from one metal strip and through a hole in the wall.

Physical Description

Black and white, sepia toned, silver gelatin photograph printed on light weight paper, portrait format with a white border.

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