Over the holidays I learned that the one and only lab in the world that processed Kodachrome slide film had ended the process, thereby putting an end to one of the most beautiful films in history.
For those of you who don't know the history of the film, it was the first mass-marketed color slide film produced by Eastman Kodak in the late 1930's. Amongst professional photographers it was highly regarded as one of the most accurate color films and was used primarily for magazine publishing and advertising.
When I think back on my career as a photographer, I think of the thousands of rolls of film, both negative and slide, black & white and color, 35mm and medium format, that still clog my desk drawers and negative albums. I was extremely hesitant to enter the digital photography market until the market demanded it, but when I did, I still continued to shoot film and still do today. I often read articles of how many professionals still shoot film for various reasons, mostly for it's characteristics. Yet most of the photography world predict an end to film production in the very near future.
The strangeness of this is that I consider myself a techie. Not one of those geeky types that stand in line to buy the iPod 12 or take out a second mortgage to buy the top-of-the-line Canon DSLR, but someone who truly appreciates the advancements in technology and how they relate to my chosen profession. I have embraced the digital photography world and teach digital photography to many fledgling photographers, yet I strongly oppose the end of film and will argue until my teeth bleed that film will never die.
I hope it never does.
The comforting factor in this can be related to the end of Polaroid film. It took less than a year and the cries of thousands of hobbyist and professional photographers to bring it back, and it is back, along with services to rebuild those old Polaroid cameras and make them useful again. I believe the same will be done for Kodachrome. All it takes is someone with a lab who can first reproduce the chemicals for developing the film, and then dust off the dip and dunk slide-processing machines to develop it. Oh, and someone to actually make the film and distribute it, oh, and we need a store willing to purchase and sell it............
2 comments:
For financial reasons I don't use film right now, everything is digital from the photos I take to the end product of the design process. However, I'll NEVER forget the feel and smell of various film types. It's is a part of my personality as is the smell of my grandfather's pipe tobacco. It'll always trigger memories of Dad with his slide projector or camera bag full of lenses (wide angle, tinted, etc) and an array of black, gray and white film canisters. Then there's my collection of Polaroid cameras. Funny thing, the first Polaroid I ever owned was acquired during that time period they didn't make film. I have an unopened package of film and don't plan on ever opening it for that reason. Film will disappear as the norm and be the thing for "hobby" art, there will always be a market for it. We need more teachers of art to incorporate photography in the high schools, not just "photoshop" in yearbook committee. I mean real hardcore photography from film to digital, from the canister to the memory card, from the black room to the PC. We need more imaginative children to get their hands on this antiquated, yet amazing, material that has in my mind, changed the world. You try to imagine life without photography...
I think film will always be around, one way or another. It might reach a point where it's a bit more of a stretch to find the places to provide the services, but if it ever does disappear for good, I think its a long way in the future. At least, I hope...
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