America was already in love with photography when George Eastman invented his easy-to-use handheld Kodak camera in 1888, and by the turn of the century, it was the country's most popular hobby. The Brownie, designed for children, began selling for just one dollar in 1900, and camera clubs sprouted up from coast to coast. 1900 cameras were still a far cry from today's models, using film that was 20 times slower and explosive magnesium-powder flashes that robbed many photographers of their sight -- and their limbs. The brownish (sepia) tint of photos from this era was caused by image-fixing solutions containing particles of real gold.