- June 25th, 2009
- Filed under Art, Current Events, Film, Musings
Just days before the opening of the exhibition “Kodachrome Culture: The American Tourist in Europe,” Kodak announced that it would discontinue Kodachrome film.
First Polaroid, now this?!
The slide film, known for its rich colors and clarity, has been available commercially since 1935. It now accounts for less than 1% of Kodak’s still-film sales. You’ve probably seen this famous Kodachrome portrait:
Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl, 1984. © Steve McCurry
The problem is, Kodachrome must be processed by a method so complex that only one lab in America is still certified by Kodak to handle the film: Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas. Dwayne’s said on its site that they would continue processing Kodachrome through the end of next year. Renowned photographer and Kodachrome lover Eric Meola seems to think the transition was inevitable:
Before digital, Kodak was already shifting gears–moving away from the boundaries of KODACHROME (long lab times, fewer labs, a more environmentally friendly, as well as constrained, chemistry)
Promised Land, © Eric Meola
Kodak said that it expects the current supply of Kodachrome to last until the fall. However, if what happened with Polaroid film was any indication, it will probably linger around longer than that.
The National Geographic Museum will open a sentimental tribute to the film today in Washington, D.C. Nat Geo’s photographers began using Kodachrome in the 1930s, describing the film as ‘a photographic medium that changed the way we document the world.’
Kodachrome photo from Flickr user hz536n
Paul Simon, any final words?
June 25th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Just earlier this month I started going through a large box of slides taken mostly in the 70s. In honor of my long time use of Kodachrome, I uploaded a few to Flicker including the first 35mm photo I ever took at a virgin prairie in Iowa.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artistdan/sets/72157620542055090/
June 25th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
The new products and technologies are taking place of the outdated or non-profitable ones…
June 25th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
There is a great amount of sadness in pop photo culture associated with the demise of polaroid and kodachrome. As an active film-shooter I can say with some confidence that film is not going away any time soon. Large format photography has flourished in the unfortunate waning of some of the greats: Polaroid Time-Zero (sx-70), kodachrome, kodak technical pan… and so many more. We film loyalists know that film is the medium of art photography. Have a look at the IMA’s Greg Crewdson print, or the eloquent work of midwesterners Alec Soth and Brian Ulrich, among many. All film, all now.
Years from today when technology really catches up to the quality of an 8×10 drum scan (we’re talking Hubble telescope technology for consumers) film will find a place in history along side of the many brilliant early mediums of photography… daguerreotype, wet-plate, ambrotype, platimum palladium, gum bichromate, cyanotype, chrysotype, van dyke, ambrotype, and emulsified whatever. I think film might be called ‘mylar film,’ just an historical guess. And whatever it is called, it will find it’s place among these recording and print mediums as an art medium. These oldies are already resurging as art mediums as cataloged in Lyle Rexer’s “Photography’s Antiquarian Avant Garde: The New Wave in Old Processes.”
Until then, I’ll settle back for hours upon hours of post-production as I edit every speck of dust from that 350mb scan, happily toiling in the medium of film.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
and I’m looking forward to peeking into some old chromes in Judy Levy’s upcoming exhibition in the atrium!