Kodachrome-- the last day

<p>Wednesday, Dec. 29, was the very last day that anyone beyond the vicinity of Parsons, Kansas, could go out and shoot their last rolls of Kodachrome. In that sense, the last day has begun. What was it like, around the country, for fellow procrastinators who waited, as I did, for the last possible moment?</p>

<p>I had hoped for more dramatic weather, or some unknown inspiration, but finally necessity was the mother of my ambition. I shot three rolls, simply because I couldn't do the same thing tomorrow. I violated all my usual rules for this film, shooting in the shadows of Clear Creek Canyon, where I found much less river ice than I'd hoped. Moody, monochromatic scenes that might look about as good if I'd waited and developed it as B&W film (which, I predict, will be the next short trend in Kodachrome's long history). With the clock ticking and the sun dipping on one of the year's shortest days, I persisted and found some small delights. I loaded my final roll of 24 at the Colorado Railroad Museum, as the sun peeked out under a cloud just before dipping below the high western horizon. The low rays caught on the stainless steel venting of a display locomotive, an F7 from the California Zephyr, just so (almost). </p>

<p>I made the FedEx pickup by ten minutes. The postage was ... too much, but I paid, telling myself it's the last money I'll ever have to spend on the stuff. The locomotive, the canyon and the ice will still be there.. and I can shoot them for free, now that I'm free of that blasted film habit! I'm grateful to Kodak by making the whole day possible, by making it necessary. </p>

<p>How was your last Kodachrome moment?</p>

<p>I shot my third to last roll while i was driving to the post office. The sun was setting and i had an 81A filter on the camera, so hopefully the warm tones will come out nice. I literally held the camera out the windows as I drove along and snapped off the last 20 frames. I got a few nice shots of my village as I neared the PO then dumped the rolls in the box with about 2 minutes to spare.<br>

The last two rolls, are still sitting on my desk. Who knows whats going to happen to them. </p>

I have my camper popped up next to the Dwayne's Photo company van, it is providing some degree of windblock.

Yesterday I spent the day in Wichita photographing cowboys in period dress in Old West settings. I also photographed

a classic Soda Fountain diner called The Old Mill packed at lunch. Then a man who has invented a type of "Virtual

Receptionist", a kid with giant curly hair eating a bright pink donut at "The Donut Whole"....hours later I would pose a

young man not related to him but who could have been his brother in a gas station in Parsons...holding a packet of

powdered donuts in front of his mouth to play off of the earlier shot.

 

Now it is a windy 4:15 AM, the morning crew relieves the current crew at 6 AM. Then the first loads of mail start to

come in, more images to be made for sure...

<p>Needless to say, I hope that there is a documentary crew creating a 2-hour TV special. Or a feature documentary. Heck, they did it for Helvetica. If they can do it for a typeface, they should do it for a legendary film stock.</p>

<p>Across the nation there have been various activities marking the end of an era. In Rochester, there is silence. Steve McCurry took the last roll of Kodachrome around the world for National Geographic, but the company that produced all of this film has barely mentioned it. In other places people are using Kodachrome film one last time for exhibits evoking days gone by. In this city where I can talk to people who knew the inventors of Kodachrome, I had trouble giving away 50 rolls of film. (The film was rapidly claimed by others across the country once I posted a notice here.) Paul Simon wrote a song entitled "Kodachrome", but in Rochester "The Sounds of Silence" seems more appropriate. I know why Kodak steered clear of the end of Kodachrome. It doesn't fit with their vision of a digital future. I'm having a harder time understanding why the rest of Rochester seems not to care. </p>

<p>As for me, I'm recovering from foot surgery and not very mobile. My last roll has traditional indoor Christmas pictures. The last shot was my wife smiling at me as she waited for me to finish the roll and get it packaged for shipment.</p>

<p>I learned this morning that the last roll I shipped to Parsons, Kansas via USPS Priority Mail on Monday, which had an expected delivery date of Wednesday, will most likely not make it on time today. It ended up being trucked to Richmond, California before being sent out to Kansas. So my Christmas photos will be lost I suppose...will have to see if they get there by noon today, but it's doubtful to say the least.<br>

Have not received any email from Dwayne's that my other 4 rolls shipped to them last week have been processed yet, they must be super busy.</p>

<p>The NYTimes has a good article on the subject today:</p>

 

<h1 ><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/us/30film.html?partner=rss&emc=rss">For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas</a></h1>

<p>Dan Bayer wasn't the only photographer to visit Parsons, KS this week.</p>

 

My last day was on the day before when I shot my last cartridge of K-40 Super 8 sometime around 2:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. I

shot mostly lighted signs and neon-laced storefronts. I tried to get as much indoor

activity I could zoom in upon. It's likely that much of it will be underexposed, but with

400' worth of night footage, I will likely at least manage some decent splices to add

with my daytime footage. I had a friend mail it out for me, as I was back to work by

7:00am catching only an hour longs sleep beforehand. Incidentally, I had also thrown

in the box going to Dwayne's a 50' cartridge of K-40 I had shot in 1982 when I was

twelve. It's likely to be very faint of images if any at all remains.

<p>My last day was spent taking shots (both still and motion) of a tourist railroad in Bucks County, PA. Their steam locomotive was built 10 years before Kodachrome was introduced (1925), so I felt that it was an appropriate finish. However, I saved three shots, and took them of my family in front of the Christmas tree at 6:24 PM, the time Kodachrome died for me. After that, it was a quick drive to the UPS Hub (only 2 miles away), and my last rolls of film were off to Kansas. </p>

<p>"... will most likely not make it on time today."</p>

<p>What a shame.<br>

I suspect that starting this afternoon we'll be seeing a flurry of this type of comment on the various photo forums. </p>

<p>Sad, SAD day indeed. I will always remember the trip I took to the Fairlawn NJ Kodak processing plant to see the magic of the Kodachrome process. I guess I kind of took it all for granted that such a fine film would ever disapear from the world. I also remember waiting for the mail to arrive, and the excitement of that little yellow box of holiday, or vacation slides to arrive. Even worse was waiting for my father to get home from work so we could open the package and use the Sawyer hand viewer (which I still have) to get the first look at them. Then on Friday night, we would break out the TDC projector (yeah got that too), and have the family slide show. Even into my teen years,and my thirties,I shot hundreds of rolls of Kodachrome with many fine classic cameras. Luckily I still have all the slides, and the equipment to enjoy them. On this past Christmas eve, after dinner with my daughter, I broke out the TDC, and went through about 20 trays of slides from the forties, though the sixties, shot by my Dad of long past people, and places. It was quite an emotional night. A sad way to start a new year indeed. R.I.P Kodachrome, you showed us the world in wonderful color. You will be missed. </p>

I had to come back and add this...but I wanted to include that the defining memory I

have from my last day of shooting Kodachrome (K 40 Super-8) was how many people

now call movie film "video". I know...it's a bit of a lame add on to this subject but I

just had to make a mention of it.

<p>I was at Goodwill today, and I found a Super 8mm camera with a roll of K40 still in it. All I could think of was what was on the film that wouldn't been seen in that great color. I didn't get the camera. </p>

<p><em>Never, ever</em> trust anything time critical to the US Postal Service. It's a black hole that can devour all manner of letters, packets and parcels. UPS, the "Big Brown Truck," is better, but not much. If you want something to get their on time -- earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, meteors and asteroids aside -- you must use Federal Express. It's more money but clearly worth it. My bundle of K64 left NYC on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and arrived at Dwayne's today before 10 a.m. Try that with the decrepit "Pony Express" of a Postal Service!</p>

<p>Nicholas,</p>

<p>Was that the New Hope & Ivyland?</p>

<p>I plan to take my 4-year-old grand daughter there in a few weeks.</p>

<p>Were they running steam or diesel? My grand daughter will be seriously "pissed" if there's no steam!</p>

<p>Now that Kodachrome is history, I have decided to return to the B&W of my youth. Tri-X, here I come! (My wife can tackle the colour in digital.)</p>

<p>My last shot was of my wife standing in front of my car in the Federal Express parking lot.</p>

<p>(And I then shot one more exposure, basically of a heap of snow in the parking lot, just in case there was one more shot than the indicator said. Hate to waste it.)</p>

<p>I don't know whose the last ever developed roll of Kodachrome will be, but I can state with a fair degree of certainty that mine will be the last in 828 size. . .</p>

<p>They're still developing the 828?...</p>

<p>They were still doing the 828, as well as 110 and 126.</p>

<p>Yep, should have sent it by Express Mail. At least then it would have arrived by Wednesday...<br>

Actually I shot my last 3 rolls (ordered from B&H Photo the day I read Kodachrome was being discontinued) last August and received them from Dwayne's in early September. Then in November, I decided why not shoot a few more? So I sent the last 4 rolls to Dwayne's last Friday, the 24th. However I didn't put any delivery confirmation on the box of film (sent it USPS Priority Mail, expected delivery date was Monday the 27th, but suspect it got there Tuesday or Wednesday).<br>

My father shot Kodachrome from 1958-1986, and I have them all in the original Sawyers carousels. I shot Kodachrome from 1987 to 1997, including K25, K64, and K200.<br>

<a href="http://hull534.smugmug.com/photos/572076614_buFgE-XL.jpg">Here</a> is a photo I took in San Francisco in June, 1996, with Kodachrome 64.</p>

 

<p>dave-- i sent my order on the 24th via priority from the west coast and it got there early tuesday morning.</p>

<p>my last roll was of the golden gate bridge. on a sunny day, no less!</p>

<p>"Across the nation there have been various activities marking the end of an era. In Rochester, there is silence."<br>

I'm afraid that this says a lot about Kodak these days....I can understand some of their reasons to try to move into digital and other new developments, but <em>surely </em>even the demise of Kodachrome could have been spin-doctored as a one-off opportunity to promote and benefit the company....something like "75 years of unique quality and success, now on our way forward with innovation for the next 75"????? As it is....silence....<br>

No wonder no one wants to invest in Eastman Kodak stock.....parties in breweries come to mind..... (sighs deeply....)</p>

<p>Speaks for itself.... (back cover of 1981 National Geographic):<br>

<a href="../photo/12171256">http://www.photo.net/photo/12171256</a></p>

<p>"" "Across the nation there have been various activities marking the end of an era. In Rochester, there is silence." <br />I'm afraid that this says a lot about Kodak these days....""</p>

<p>How very true!</p>

<p>""No wonder no one wants to invest in Eastman Kodak stock...."" </p>

<p>I think the chain is longer than that. The low stock price reflects a poor financial showing. The poor financial showing reflects the poor decisions made by upper management. The silence is just one of the latest poor decisions. It is "so Kodak". </p>

<p>""Speaks for itself.... (back cover of 1981 National Geographic):<br /><a href="../photo/12171256">http://www.photo.net/photo/12171256</a><br>

""<br>

Yes it does. The last line "America's Storyteller." defines the Kodachrome era. A lot of Kodachrome was used in publishing, railroad documentation, fashion, arts & entertainment, etc. However the volume went to amateur shots showing America growing up and then shrinking down. An example is A. T. Burke's "Days gone by on Kodachrome gone by"</p>

<p><a href="../photodb/folder?folder_id=983141">http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=983141</a></p>

<p>Part of the story is in the photos, part in the narrative below in the "Critiques" section. Interesting that his Kodachrome story of Americans working together and looking out for each other, heading upwards and onwards after a major depression and a devastating war ends about the time of the Age of Aquarius. </p>

<p>How old are you?<br>

As I commented in one of Mr. Burke's critiques, the era of family values is not over... but a lot of aging Americans seem to think it is. Most families remain close. Perhaps not as seemingly close as when families had 6-10 offspring living in a smaller house, with grandparents often thrown in; but think about that: most grandparents died much younger than they do now, so it wasn't so long they were under that roof. Nostalgia is fine, but this idea of "values of a bygone era" is getting ridiculous. My Kodachrome story begins in the '70s and, sadly, ended this week with everyone else. Fortunately, it continues with the mixture of digital, silver and E-6 dyes that intertwined with K-14 before, throughout our family album (which includes grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts and friends from all over the world, actually challenging the color palette of the media a lot more than the rather amelanistic views seen in a lot of Kodachrome "family pictures").</p>

<p>Went down to the beach to shoot the sunset. Got a few candid's of others on the beach, but i didnt see a single film camera there. I wanted to get the sunrise the next morning before mailing it off next day but slept through the %^%^#$% thing. really rather disheartened by that.</p>