Steve McCurry, a famous photographer whose image of an Afghan girl with brilliant green eyes for National Geographic has become iconic, has been given a great and sad gig—Kodak has handed him the last production roll of Kodachrome to take and shoot. He’s doing it in grand style, traveling all over the world, with a film crew shooting a documentary about it.
I wanted to be a photographer for National Geographic when I was a teenager. I knew nothing about how to do that, and for numerous reasons I won’t go into I never found out or took the chance. I played it safe with a nice steady lab job and didn’t pursue a dream. Oh well.
But I have nevertheless made some images of which I am very proud. Here’s one:
I just finished Photoshopping this and doing some work on it to make it more what I wanted it to be. There are reasons for the abandonment of film, yet I feel sad. Kodachrome had a special look and it was for a long time my favorite film. The idea that Kodak won’t be making it anymore—or any of its other films—is just too weird to me. I remember when they purged their paper line. They once made dozens of types of photographic paper (b & w) in a variety of surfaces and in the mid to late 70s they discontinued 90% of them. The market was changing, resin coated paper was becoming popular, sales flagged on the harder-to-use fibre papers…
Still, it’s a loss. I will be very interested to see what Mr. McCurry does with that final roll. Meantime, like most of the rest of us, I’m learning to do this digitally.
Gotta say, it has possibilities for me that are very seductive.
Both images were shot in New Mexico.
Interestingly, I still have a shrinkpack (24 rolls) of unopened Kodachrome – also my once favorite film stock.
Since the announcement of its discontinuance, I have been saving it until I can think of something truly worthy of it.
Obviously its outdated, but I’ve shot KC that was over 15 years out of expiration with exactly zero noticeable degradation-this was definitely the best emulsion EVER made (not like the crap from Agfa or Ilford!).
In the back of my head I’ve kind of settled on using at least some of it for my photomicroscopy of odd pathology samples (yeah, I’m in medicine – just dont sue me! 🙂
My concern is that the body I have attached to my two good microscopes aren’t of the best quality: a Nikon 2020, and an old nikkomat (my all-time personal favorite body, with an assortment of 1.2 or better lenses, which unfortunately, don’t attach to the microscope adapter: I’m stuck taking the images straight from the slides themselves, through the variety of objectives I have mounted. My best objective is only a [Leica] 100-oil lense which
has seen better days since my residency in 1981 :-\
If you’d be interested in a roll, let me know, I’d love to see what you would do with it!
I’d be interested in what you would do with 24 rolls of 26 exp KC?
You may have an unusable conversation piece. I believe the last lab that processed Kodachrome closed last year.
I have to confess, I am growing enamored of digital. I find I can come close to both Kodachrome and Technicolor brilliance with it.
no more professional labs, huh? How depressing!
I have a fairly well stocked BW lab, I’m wondering what chemicals are sill available to us “old-timers”? I certainly wouldn’t mind the (steadily reducing) business of being the “Only Person in America that can still process their own products :>~
And, to think I how long I held on to that one wrapping: the “expiration’ is in the late 1970’s! What Fun that could be: but not without the ability to process it :<
Before my last employer closed down I became aware that a couple of companies in England were not only still making B&W film, paper, and chemicals, they were actually expanding their lines. Ilford in particular seems committed to continuing: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/default.asp
I don’t know what will happen in color. I suppose Fuji will struggle on for a while. But I still have a Twilight Zone sensation contemplating the bankruptcy of Kodak. That’s…just…weird…