One of my old dependables pass away… and I didn’t even know it. After 74 years of service… Koda… better know as Kodachrome passed away in 2009. With the advent of digital photography, I have gone totally digital… so I didn’t even notice. Some of the worlds best photos, like all those by National Geographic, were taken with Kodak Kodachrome films… as were many movies in “Technicolor”.
Kodachrome is a brand name for a non-substantive, color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. Kodachrome was the subject of a Paul Simon song and a US state park was named after it. For many years it was used for professional color photography, especially for images intended for publication in print media. Because of the uptake of alternative photographic materials, its complex processing requirements, and the widespread transition to digital photography, Kodachrome lost its market share, its manufacturing was discontinued in 2009 and its processing ended in 2010.Kodachrome was the first color film that used a subtractive color method to be successfully mass-marketed. Until its discontinuation, Kodachrome was the oldest surviving brand of color film. It was manufactured for 74 years in various formats to suit still and motion picture cameras, including 8 mm, Super 8, 16 mm for movies (exclusively through Eastman Kodak), and 35 mm for movies (exclusively through Technicolor Corp) and 35 mm, 120, 110, 126, 828 and large format for still photography.It wasn't easy being green. Or yellow or red or blue, for that matter. While color photography had been around in one form or another since the 1860s, until the Eastman Kodak Company came out with its Kodachrome film in 1935, So while Kodak's discontinuation of the iconic color film will affect only the most devoted photo buffs. The 2009 announcement breaks one of the largest remaining ties to the era of pre-digital photography. It also ends a legacy that includes some of the most enduring images of 20th century America.
Like many things from our time, as in us “old folks”… kids today will not know the meaning or origins for certain names of things… unless we explain it to them. Words like… film, dial a number, ring a phone, dial tone, record (as in music), “45” or “LP” (as in the record), walkman, cassette, Hi-Fi, tv dial, rabbit ears, or other everyday items as clothes pin, clothes line, iron skillet, penny candy, marbles ( as in something to play with), pong, 8 track, Atari, CB (as in radio), transistor radio, army men (yep, the green ones), and no doubt soon to add to the list… board games. But, everything changes in time.
So, farewell old friend… Kodachrome… I used him well!
