1930 - Photography

Photography

A London Graphic writer coins the phrase "candid camera" to describe the intimate and often irreverent Leica portraits of statesmen by Berlin-born photographer Erich Solomon, 44, who in 1932 will take a rare (and illegal) picture of the U.S. Supreme Court in session (see Leica, 1925).

Flashbulbs patented September 23 by German inventor Johannes Ostermeier have aluminum foil in place of magnesium (see magnesium flares, 1898). A small filament in the Vacublitz "flash lamp" heats up when connected to a source of electricity, the heat ignites foil inside the bulb, and the foil flashes to produce a fireless, smokeless, odorless, noiseless (but blinding) light. Similar bulbs have been introduced 7 weeks earlier by General Electric.