End of an era – Foto Friday

I’ve written before about the ending of Kodachrome – Kodak’s flagship film that captured the truest colors and was used for a majority of the ground-breaking photography over the years. And what a fitting retirement that Kodak and National Geographic thought up. They gave the very last roll ever made to Steve McCurry – an award winning photojournalist who’s iconic picture Afghan Girl was one of National Geographic’s most recognized covers. Steve is doing a story for them about what he shot with the last roll – and think of how important every single shot of that roll will be! That’s pressure only a true professional like Steve McCurry could deliver. Here’s a link to a great article at NPR about the last roll and Steve’s project – Exposed: The Last Roll Of Kodachrome

And an important note – have any unprocessed Kodachrome hanging around? Better it it processed now as the last lab in the world is stopping their processing Dec 30, 2010. Dwayne’s Photo Service in Kansas is the only lab in the world who still processed Kodachrome and December 30 it’s done – forever!

Like all good things, it had to stop some time. I spend my early career in the commercial photography so I used mostly Kodak Ektachrome film – and that at some point will be discontinued due to the almost universal switch to digital cameras. But Kodachrome was always special and it’s kind of sad. Had you every used Kodachrome? Leave a comment and let us know!

Other posts you will enjoy:

1. Foto Friday – Give me those nice, bright colors… Since we were on the road on Friday, we know this is a little late!  Better late than never, right? Eastman Kodak, my old employer, just announced that they are discontinuing the production of one of...
2. Do You Know What This Is? Believe it or not, it’s the world’s first digital camera. It was invented by Steve Sasson at Eastman Kodak (my old company) in 1975. Steve and his chief lab technician took the first digital camera picture...
3. Foto Friday – Stan’s feeling sad A lot of you know that my current job is Director of Digital Solutions for a large photo lab here in Tennessee. I’ve been in the photo industry for my whole life; starting in high school...
4. Foto Friday – Things that make you go hmm.. In my recent post about the demise of Kodak’s Kodachrome film, (see post here) I was struck by Steve McCurry’s “Afghan Girl” cover image for Time magazine on the plight of refugees. Photography has the unique...
5. Foto Friday – How to Get Clearer Pictures Aren’t digital cameras great? I got serious about photography when I was a teenager back in the dark ages of the 1970′s. Then I had my trusty Kodak Instamatic camera and photographed everything I could think...