“Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away.”
Paul Simon sang those words in 1973 and on 18 January, 2012, Eastman Kodak, maker of Kodachrome and other film products, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company that set the standard for dry emulsion photography was done in by the digital age, even though they were an early pioneer in digital photography.
It was Eastman Kodak that put photography in the hands of the general public. Before Kodak founder, George Eastman, invented the dry emulsion process in 1880, you would need a horse drawn wagon to carry the camera, plates and chemistry needed to take a picture. With the release of the Kodak camera in 1888, Eastman put photography in the hands of the masses. His Kodak camera was pre-loaded with enough film for 100 exposures. When you finished shooting all your pictures, you sent the entire camera to Kodak who then processed the film, made prints and sent you back the reloaded camera all for $10. (Keep in mind that $10 in 1888 is more than $232 today.)
It is difficult to put in words how sad this news of Kodak’s bankruptcy is to those of us who got our hands wet processing film in Kodak chemicals. Rochester, New York, the home of Eastman Kodak, was where you went (if you were selected) to study photographic quality control. Kodak knew all there was to know about how to make their products sing and they didn’t mind teaching you what they knew. When I was a Marine Corps combat photographer there were two things you did. You checked your camera settings before and after every shot. Why? Because if you thought you’d over or under exposed your shot, you could tell your film processor and he could save your behind either in the film processing stage or in the printing. The chemistry couldn’t make up for a photographer’s poor technique, but if the shot was there, the chemistry could save it.
Without Eastman Kodak, photography as we know it, would not exist and could only be done by professionals or the very rich. The loss of this institution, which holds more than 11,000 patents relative to the photographic process, will remain a painful afterthought for some time to come. Paul Simon was right. Thank you Kodak for the memories.
That is kind of sad I think, to lose such a historical company over their lack of keeping the throne of the very market they created. Although I thank them for all the memories they allowed me to capture throughout my young years in life. For what it matters, they will always be known as the stepping stone of photography.
Absolutely agree. Hopefully they will emerge from bankruptcy a stronger company, but I doubt it. It is a shame.