Alas, you can no longer buy Kodachrome:
Eastman Kodak Co. announced Monday that it’s bidding farewell to Kodachrome, its oldest and the first commercially successful film. At first, it seemed like another moment to engage in brief, Pavlovian nostalgia of the rotary telephone or monophonic record album sort.
There were pro forma histories of the film and mention of its invention by two young musicians; its early use by Hollywood; how sales are just a smidgen of Kodak’s total sales; and how it’s so difficult to process that only one joint in Switzerland and one in Kansas handle the film.
Then I wondered: Might this be different? Is there be a reason to be sad, even in this wondrous digital age in which hacks like me can stumble onto a great image, perhaps quickly juice it up and, then, voila, send it to every village and hamlet on the globe (not to mention CNN or MSNBC)?
Much of my youth is captured on Kodachrome-slides and prints. Also during the voyage of the damned in 1981, I bought a Canon Camera in Singapore-and learned to shoot stop action photography on the ship with it-and high speed Kodachrome film. If I could get a scanner that is worth a shit-also in my "to do list"-I might even post some of those photos.
A lot of history is also recorded on Kodachrome film. Go here for a great slide show of some of those moments.
"Today, shooting with a digital camera offers some advantages — you never have to run out of film. And you can see what the picture looks right away, no waiting. But when you shoot, stop, look, and shoot again, a different rhythm sets in. No momentum builds up, and you never have to trust your judgment. "
"With film you never knew you’d lost that key moment until you found out what the film looked like. But now, you might lose it while inspecting the shot that didn’t work."
"I know that digital images can travel around the world in astonishingly brief intervals of time, and that for many reasons time is now our most precious resource. But in exchange for speed it seems to me that we’re losing the ability to concentrate, wait, and seize the chance."
Farewell, old friend.