Kodachome 1935 – 2010
It was Fall of 1976, my daughter Catherine Anne was three months old and my father is holding her. The shutter clicked and one of those images that defines your life as a photographer was exposed on a roll of Kodachrome! For many years those yellow canisters filled the outside pocket of my camera bag. Kodachrome was, for many years, the king of slide films. As the T-shirt says; Paul sang about it. (Kodachrome Paul Simon) A state park was named after it, (Kodachrome Basin in Utah). National Geographic shot their most famous photos on it. With the advent of Fuji Film’s Velvia, then digital, and finally the EPA, it died. Fuji became the rage, Kodak refused to understand that people wanted the brighter deeper colors, of course digital changed every thing for all films, and the Kodachrome process was highly toxic and the last straw was drawn when the Environmental Protection Agency said that Kodak could no longer run the film’s processing machines.
The image above is of my daughter Catherine being held by my late father William Pelle Fortney, The image means a great deal to me, it was a tender moment of my father holding my daughter. It is one of those images that endures in our hearts, our memories, and on film. I’m glad I was shooting Kodachrome that day! Seems funny but from time to time even shooting a digital camera when I’m in the thick of shooting and enjoying just the feeling of making images, I can hear Paul singing, “Kodachrome, you gives those nice bright colors, you give us the greens of summer, makes you think all the worlds a sunny day, oh yeah, I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph, oh momma don’t take my Kodachrome away…..” ……………. but they did!
Dwayne’s Photo developed the last roll of Kodachroime on December 30, 2010 for Steve McCurry of National Geographic. For the images on that last roll see the link below:
http://stevemccurry.com/galleries/last-roll-kodachrome
If you want the shirt, use the link below!
http://www.dwaynesphoto.com
Blessings,
the pilgrim
This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2014 at 5:26 pm
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🙂 I love the pic, the blog entry, and the Paul Simon song “Kodachrome”…always makes me think of you…but most of all, I love you, Dad.
I love you too sweetheart, you’re one of the very best things to happen to me in my life!!!! Hey you were good lookin’ then and now!
Wonder what a few unused rolls would bring on eBay…might have to do a search.
I imagine collectors are already looking. I know several photographers that had a freezer full in December 2010, I think Jay Maisel did, at least I know he had a good stock pike a few years before that!
I’m not sure anyone does K-14 processing, Johnny.
To my knowledge, no one does, at least in the U.S.!
December 30th is my birthday. Feels kinda neat to share my day with such a momentous occasion as the retirement of Kodachrome. I love that Paul Simon song too. Lovely photo of your daughter and father, thank you for sharing.
Thanks for sharing that! Here’s hoping you were born in 1990,