Kodakchrome: 1935-2009

Kodachrome is the name of a color reversal film

introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was
one of the first successful color materials and
was used for both cinematography and still
photography.
The Kodachrome process in which three emulsions, each sensitive to a primary
color, are coated on a single film base was the brainchild of Leopold Godowsky Jr.
and Leopold Mannes
Emulsion

Kodachromes red, yellow and blue dye isnt added until the development
process; the film itself is basically black and white. Kodachrome emulsion
layers are thinner and less light is scattered upon exposure, meaning that the
film could record an image with more sharpness than substantive films.
Transparencies made with non-substantive films have an easily-visible relief
image on the emulsion side of the film. Kodachrome films have a dynamic
range of around 12 stops.
For the first 20 years, anyone developing Kodachrome film had to send
it to a Kodak laboratory for processing. In 1954, the Department of
Justice declared Kodachrome-processing a monopoly, and the company
agreed to allow other finishing plants to develop the film; the price of a
roll of film (which previously had the processing cost added into it ) fell
by about 43%.
In 1948 the National Geographic Society explored and
photographed this area for a story that appeared in the September 1949
issue of National Geographic. They named the area Kodachrome Flat, after
the then relatively new brand of Kodak film they used. In 1962 the area
was designated a state park. Fearing repercussions from the Kodak film
company for using the name Kodachrome, the name was changed to
Chimney Rock State Park, but renamed Kodachrome Basin a few years later
with Kodak's permission.
Kodachrome's popularity peaked in the 1960s and '70s, when
Americans began to catalog every single holiday, family vacation
and birthday celebration. Kodachrome II, a faster, more versatile
version of the film, came out in 1961, making it even more
appealing to the point-and-shoot generation.
In 1973 Paul Simon sang, "Mama, don't take my
Kodachrome away. Kodak was still expanding its
Kodachrome line, and it was hard to believe that
it would ever disappear.
During the 1980s, easily processed color film from
companies like Fuji and Polaroid encroached on
Kodachrome's business. People began to find
Kodachrome inconvienent. Compared to new
technology, Kodachrome was a pain to develop. It
required a large processing machine, many different
chemicals and over a dozen processing steps. The film
would never, ever be able to make the "one-hour
photo" deadline that customers began to expect.
Kodak quit the film-processing business in 1988 and slowly began to disengage
from film-manufacturing. By 2008 Kodak was producing only one Kodachrome
film run a mile-long sheet cut into 20,000 rolls per year. The number of centers
able to process it declined. Kodachrome 64 slide film was discontinued on June
22 2009. It was the last type of true Kodachrome available. Kodak donated the
last remaining rolls of Kodachrome film to the George Eastman House's
photography museum. Only Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas processed the
last of Kodak's Kodachrome film. In the end they only developed a few
hundred rolls a day. They developed the last roll on December 30
th
2010.

National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry used
Kodachrome to capture the haunting green-gray eyes of an
Afghan refugee girl in 1985 in what is still the magazine's
most enduring cover image. McCurry's photographic career
perfectly traces the rise and fall of Kodak film. He shot his
iconic Afghan-girl portrait on Kodachrome and returned 17
years later to photograph the same woman with Kodak's
easier-to-develop Ektachrome. Now, he relies on digital.

Cited Sources
http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599
,1906503,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome

http://c41.net/articles/kodachrome-a-history-
and-tribute/

http://kodachrome.ajaxnetphoto.com/