A short history of flash photography

> In the 1940s [Salvador Dali] was commissioned by Max Factor to create a brand name and a bottle for their latest perfume. Dali accepted the commission but refused to follow any of the procedures most designs would consider useful in achieving a successful result. He refused to meet his client. He showed no interest in developing an understanding of the product itself, its target audience, where it was to be sold or how it was to be marketed. ... Four weeks later, the world's press descended up the Astoria Hotel on Fifth Avenue, flashbulbs at the ready.

> Dali arrived nearly an hour late, visibly bereft of any object resembling a perfume bottle. As he strode towards the lectern, journalists fired questions while flashbulbs were discharged all around him. Just before he reached the lectern, Dali conjured a handkerchief from his pocket and bent over to pick up a still-glowing expended flashbulb. He pressed the bulb gently against the lectern to flatten its tip and paused to allow it to cool. Once the bulb was cold enough to handle, Dali held it aloft and announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Max Factor's Electrique!"

Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=PJYk8PFtZf8C&pg=PT86

"The Lurking Park Voyeurs of 1970s Tokyo" (moderately NWS) - http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/04/02/kohei_yoskiyuki...

Oddly, this is something that we have lost in modern times, because xenon (electronic) strobes don't throw enough infrared to be worthwhile, and most of the infrared film stocks were actually originally designed for the military to use for spotting tanks and other camoflauged installations. You can still put an IR-pass filter over a xenon strobe and shoot with an IR-modified camera but it is not as easy nor as effective as purpose-built film+lighting.

http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Flash_History.html

Discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15137945