George Eastman - KODAK co. Founder & Creator

George Eastman

Being a high school drop out and always judged, Eastman was poor. He always did his best to support his family and two sisters.
At the age of 14 he started his business career working with an insurance company. He had the ability to overcome financial adversity. His strong point was being able to organize and manage. Having a lively and inventive mind he then became a successful entrepreneur by his mid twenties, and enabled him to direct his Eastman Kodak Company to the forefront of American industry. 

Source - http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/Our_Company/History_of_Kodak/George_Eastman.htm - Last accessed 19/01/2014

Trials of an Amateur

At the age of 24 Eastman went on a trip to Santo Domingo,
documenting the whole trip, using a wet plate photographic process.
Being a heavy and bulky camera  it needed a big tripod to carry
around. Also carrying a tent to spread the emulsion.
 

A self-portrait on experimental film.

After having read in various British magazines that photographers were producing their own emulsions, seeing that these systems worked out  fine. Eastman picked one of the formulas from a magazine and began making his own gelatin

He became a workaholic, according to his mother he worked so much he usually slept on the kitchen floor. Experimenting with photography for a few years Eastman created a formula that worked. By 1880 he then invented the dry plate formula. Having a machine that could repair large number of plates, he started selling and making  business with other photographers.