Twenty years ago at the Paul Simon /Art Garfunkle reunion concert in NY
Kodachrome.
Gives us those nice bright colors…
Now it’s over.
The New York Times reported yesterday that Kodachrome, Kodak’s film (for those too young to remember) is going to come to an end of its 75 year run this Thursday when the last processing machine is shut down at Dwayne’s Pharmacy in Parson’s Kansas.
First released in 1935, Kodachrome rapidly developed a powerful following both from professional photographers and amateurs for its ability to capture and hold vibrant images in color – something relatively new in the 1930s.
Kodachrome’s resonance carried it a long way, and a long way past the arrival of digital photography, which was its ultimate demise.
There’s a lesson here however, about the impact of technology.
All technologies have a life-span; Kodachrome’s was longer than most, You don’t see many people running around with Sony Walkmen. The impact of new technologies is immutable. Resistance if futile. But if you are smart, you can see what is coming.
When Kodak released Kodachrome in 1935, it was a company that owned photograhy worldwide.
The terms Kodak and photography were synonymous.
When digital came along in the1980s, Kodak could have, and should have owned that as well.
They didn’t.
In many ways they were too in love with film. After all, they had pretty much invented it.
Had Kodak embraced digital photography from the start, they would today be the powerhouse that they were in the 1950s.
They didn’t and they aren’t.
To tell someone today that you just bought a Kodak camera is… welll…
embarassing.
And it’s too bad.
Because they deserved better.
But that is often the way it is with big companies. They find their groove and it is very hard for them to change – even companies that were once incredibly innovative.
Look at Microsoft. On the cutting edge of software, but in many ways the web was to Microsoft what digital was to Kodak.
Our own ‘video revolution’ represents a challenge to conventional companies like NBC or CBS. Will they embrace the future or be buried by it?
As Paul Simon said, ‘Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away’.
2 Comments
Malcolm James Thomson December 31, 2010
Wonderful excuse to post the S&G clip but… with respect… the Kodak Playtouch 1080p mini-camcorder in seen my many as superior to the Flip Mino HD and is the device we shall probably be putting into the hands of 18 drivers undertaking a ‘road trip’ from Marrakech to Abu Dhabi.
Nevertheless… a tear for Kodachrome is appropriate.
Michael Rosenblum December 31, 2010
Hi Malcolm
And best wishes for a Happy New Year.
If we get lucky there will be some kind of disaster on the 59th Street Bridge and then I can post another great Paul Simon song… or maybe an earthquake at Scarborough Fair. One can only hope.
best
m