Don't get me wrong, I love the new digital photography technology. However when Eastman Kodak announced on June 22nd they would take away my Kodachrome, there was a shock that came over me and every other serious professional photographer in the world. This sad news made me think back over my long photographic career and the one thing you could always trust to be there at your side no matter what the conditions were, Kodachrome. This film is truly an icon, The legendary emulsion even has the distinction of being the only film to ever be the subject of a song in Paul Simon’s May, 1973 release of the hit “Kodachrome”. It was developed during the depression in 1936, and had the capabilities of producing the striking, natural colors that only Paul Simon could describe in words. This was simply THE film; it was so highly dependable and workable to beautifully illustrate the pages and covers of all the worlds great magazines such as Life, Time, and National Geographic. As a child, I distinctly remember how I was always fascinated by how the images seamed to float off the pages of these magazines when shot in Kodachrome.

   In 1935, Leopold Mannes and Leopold Godowsky Jr. invented Kodachrome 16mm motion picture film. By 1936, Eastman Kodak Company introduced the vivid film in 35mm for still images to the masses. The craft of photography and the way the world would look at the printed image changed forever. Kodachrome is the oldest successfully mass marketed color film in history, it would have been 75 years old in 2010. Kodachrome is renown for it’s incredible archival properties, natural color and ultra-fine rendering of details. In my opinion, Kodachrome is the single most influential color film of all time.

   In a world full of computer-aided color and less that is real, Kodachrome speaks volumes. Kodachrome is not forgiving, you either nail the exposure, or you do not, there is not much room for error. But when you do align the unique characteristics of Kodachrome and the right light, it is like life: truly magical. There is nearly a life lesson in using Kodachrome. Like most films and unlike digital, it makes you wait, get the shot, have faith in what you did and move on and get busy shooting, not missing other shots. While I do shoot lots of digital, I have more than a warm place in my heart for Kodachrome and losing it is like losing an old best friend as I started using the film at age 10 over 50 years ago.