The technologies that enabled digital imaging as we now know it today, began to fall into place in the mid-1980's. Desktop computers were becoming common on more and more desktops in the corporate workplace. First as spreadsheet and word processing tools, and later as drawing and paint software evolved, they began to be used in a variety of design and engineering applications.

First VGA and then 8-bit color display technology began to displace the then predominantly monochrome displays. The first twenty-four (24) bit color displays made their appearance around 1985 with the ATT Targa video cards for IBM PC's. The Targa card was one of the first color video digitizers for the computer, allowing one to capture video camera images directly into the computer memory without the loss of quality inflicted by first recording it on an analog medium like videotape. The included software then allowed you to do fantastic things with this incredibly clear and vibrant image you'd captured with the press of a key or a software button on the display using a mouse pointer.

Memory chips were getting larger and less expensive, 512 Kb was a lot of memory back then. PC operating systems were beginning to enable one to address all this additional memory. The first CCD (charge coupled device) had been invented in the early 80's and now CCD sensor technology was becoming inexpensive enough for consumer applications like camcorders.

In 1984 Sony demonstrated the first electronic still video camera, called the Mavica, which used a CCD array and wrote still images with analog recording technology to a 2.5" Still Video Floppy disc. You could store 25 full frame images or 50 field (half resolution) images on one disc. The image quality of these units was extremely poor however, suffering from the limitations of the NTSC composite video signal and the subsequent analog storage (same technology as VCR recording). Images were blurry, full of color noise, artifacts and quality degraded each time it was copied. Kodak and many other consumer electronic companies scrambled to put together development teams to exploit this new technology even though none of them really knew who might actually buy a camera for low quality picture taking. (Photojournalists it would later be discovered, could live with the poorer quality if they could be the first to publish images of an important event.

Kodak's brand new Consumer Electronics Division was having trouble selling the Kodak labeled, Japanese made 8mm video camcorders. For that reason Kodak made a decision to exit the 8mm business" in 1986. Sony and others managed to sell quite a few 8mm camcorders in the years since. Kodak instead had pinned their hopes on the potential of this new "industry standard" Still Video Floppy (and fortunately, the small format video based, thermal printer that also being developed). In the spring of 1986 the Consumer Electronics Division was renamed the Electronic Photography Division. Please note that Electronic does not necessarily mean digital. The new "electronic" photo technology Kodak was about to adopt was a 50+ year old (back then) analog TV signal and analog recording technology. The now obselete televsion broadcast standard that we recently did away with in favor of a High Definition digital signal.

As one of the original members of that first Electronic Photography Division of Kodak I was witness to what was an extremely turbulent era in Kodak's history and in the history of photography as well.

What follows is the tale of my journey of exploration during this exciting period of time. Please keep in mind that this is the story of my experiences, from my perspective, and as such is not intended to be a definitive history of digital imaging. I am sure however, that my story will shed some light on how digital imaging had evolved at Kodak and throughout the industry in general.

The computer, besides being the most wonderful creative tool ever, is a great archealogical instrument as well. Each time you create a new document and save it to disk, it is automatically time stamped. If you're careful and backup all your work, you create a trail in time that can be followed backwards revealing the thought processes that occured. That's sort of how this project came about. While looking back at the files I'd saved over the years, I realized they were snapshots of my journey. Combining these snapshots with my recollections and information from articles in the various Mac magazines of the time (I still have many of them in boxes in the basement), I hope to assemble an illustrated document of those experiences.

This project is one I've been contemplating for a number of years but have been very reluctant to tackle. Not only because of the scope, but also for lack of a medium that could effectively present all the media types I've accumulated over the years. Everything from MacPaint files to Studio Pro animations, also Hypercard stacks, product illustrations, software prototypes, hi-res scans, 3D models, VR movies and more.

A book wouldn't have done it justice, much too linear. I had considered an interactive multimedia presentation possibly using Director, but there were issues with licensing (I couldn't afford it) and with the distribution across various platforms. Perhaps a gallery installation would be the way to go, it's a possibility I've yet to rule out. Fortunately, in 1996 I discovered the Worldwide Web and HTML and how dynamic it could be. It also doesn't cost much to get into except maybe in the time spent. This definitely was the medium I'd been waiting for.

I suggest you start in 1984, the year in which I made the decision to spend more than $2500 for my first computer, the original Macintosh 128K. I spent an additional $500 for an Imagewriter printer which would also become my first scanner as you will

PS: Any galleries interested in a show on the genesis of digital imaging? I have resources to borrow some period equipment like scanners, cameras, printers, and so forth. I have a few vintage Macs that could be running vintage software and prototypes, in addition to all the media above. Please contact me if interested.