Autumn Leaves by Matt White. Kodachrome original, 2010

The end of Kodachrome...

Since 1935, superb, marvellous Kodachrome has been just about the best colour transparency film available. National Geographic insisted on Kodachrome for all its colour images before the digital age. I have been shooting on it since the 1970s (now that does age me...) but knowing that the end was in sight, has meant the last couple of years has been quite a Kodachrome festival for me. I shoot 35mm Kodachrome 64, and 16mm and 8mm movie film in Kodachrome 25, and 40 types. It is lovely stuff, but has a pretty complicated processing system, for this subtractive colour film. Since the numbers of labs round the world has been falling, this had been getting more difficult, and in the last year only one lab worldwide has been able to process Kodachrome. It is Dwaynes of Parsons, Kansas, USA. Kodak, at the end of November ceased to honour the process paid 35mm K64, and it will withdraw the chemicals from Dwaynes at the end of December. Kodak apparently has no plans to sell patents for this wonderful film, or for the chemicals, so it seems to be a dead end for this lovely film. Kodak's reasons are that Kodachrome was not making sufficient profit for Kodak, and as the accountants rule everything Kodak does, it is the end for this iconic, and spectacular film. I am sad to see it go.