New York: It is 36 years since Paul Simon sang "Mama don't take my Kodachrome away". Now Kodak has finally done it. The Eastman Kodak Company announced on Monday that the camera film, immortalised by Simon's 1973 hit Kodachrome, was being taken off the market after a run of 74 years. The once ubiquitous film, loved by generations of both professional and amateur photographers is the latest victim of the digital revolution, and now accounts for just 1% of Kodak's film sales.
"It was a difficult decision to retire it, given its history. However, the majority of today's photographers have voiced their preference to capture images with newer technology, both film and digital," said Mary Jane Hellyar, Kodak's president of film, photofinishing and entertainment department.
Kodachrome was born in 1935 after a process invented by two musicians, Leopold Godowsky Jr and Leopold Mannes, a violinist and a pianist known as "God and Man" who were passionately interested in photography as a hobby.
The film was first sold as 16mm movie film but was soon made available in other formats including 35mm. Kodachrome has the rare distinction of being the only commercial film to have a state park named after it. The National Geographic Society exploring a spectacular section of Utah dubbed it "Kodachrome Flat" after the brand of film that they used to photograph it. The area was renamed when it was designated a state park in 1962 for fear of a trademark infringement but Kodak gave its permission and the park is now called Kodachrome Basin.
The vivid colours of Kodachrome have captured some of the most famous wildlife imagery as well as many of the world's best-known news photographs.
Abraham Zapruder's 8mm reel of president John Kennedy's 1963 assassination was shot on Kodachrome. Steve McCurry used the film for his portrait of a young Afghan girl with haunting eyes, which won worldwide acclaim when it was published on the cover of National Geographic in 1985.
Kodak will donate the last rolls of Kodachrome to the George Eastman House photography museum in New York. McCurry will shoot one of those rolls and donate the images to the museum.
Link: Making POSITIVES out of NEGATIVES: Tribute to the Icon of Color Film Photography, Kodachrome.
