Goodbye Kodachrome

Kodachrome is dead, long live to Kodachrome.

Yesterday, December 30th 2010, was the last day to have Kodachrome processed at the last lab operating in the world, Dwayne’s Photo, in Parsons Kansas. Rolls had to reach them by noon that day to be processed, after 75 years.

Steve McCurry, the legendary photographer from the National Geographic got given by Kodak the last roll they produced in 2009. You can see shots from his last roll.

It is sad to see this happening, but ever falling sales of film made the enterprise even less viable. I just wish there was a company that was able to manufacture and process a Kodachrome-like film in the future, as it was the best color slide film, with unbelievable archival quality, unrivaled by the E-6 chemistry based slide films.

I just regret to not have shot enough of it, none of them in America.

Russia in Color (1910)

[Photo]

This time it is the Big Picture from the Boston Globe to present an exhibit about Russia in Color, with these autochromes from the Prokudin-Gorskii collection at the Library of Congress (USA).

General view of the [Nikolaevskii] cathedral from southwest. Mozhaisk – Prokudin-Gorskiï­, Sergeï Mikhaïlovich, 1863-1944, photographer – From Library of Congress

Also I recommend the Big Picture as a regular “reading” for the pictures.

Color from 1906

Dr. Michael R. Shaughnessy put up a gallery of scanned true color images from 1906 with geolocalisation added. This is pretty amazing to see various european locations in color.

1906 True Color Photos scanned from old prints. Part of CAPL project at Washington & Jefferson College http://capl.washjeff.edu/ by Dr. Michael R. Shaughnessy. Please cite if linked or embedded. I am not sure of the copyright holder at this point and hope to place them under CC licensing for non-commercial use. These photos were originally published by the Institute for Color Photography, Carl Weller, Berlin. Verlagsanstalt für Farbenfotographie, 1906. Send any info to capl@washjeff.edu

Here are a few samples – see above for the copyright notice:

Pisa, Italy

Pisa, Italy

Goethe's Gartenhaus, Weimar, Germany

Goethe’s Gartenhaus, Weimar, Germany

Prague, Czech Republic

Prague, Czech Republic

Via Boing Boing.

America in Color 1939-1943

The Denver Post Photo Blogs has an exhibit called “Captured: America in Color 1939-1943”.

Some stunning images taken between 1939 and 1943 depicting America, in Color. When I think about that period, I most of the time imaging black & white, because it was the predominant form of photography at the time. But color film, was already available, even to the general public.

That’s the kind of photography I love, depicting people, in everyday situations, to form our memories (of the past).

Via Boing Boing.