So Long, and Thanks for All The Films

It’s been a while since I did any Kodak bashing, but the latest news from Rochester is that part of the business up for sale will include its consumer film emulsions. Interestingly, they still plan on producing motion picture film, and there is some debate about whether Kodak includes its professional films with its consumer films!

Whatever it sells off, and whatever it keeps, I think it is safe to say that Kodak is officially dead. Everything that made Kodak great is gone or going to the highest bidder, and judging by the difficulty they’ve had selling off what should be a very lucrative patent portfolio, one has to wonder how they will ever sell an unprofitable part of the business.

The really annoying thing for me though are the number of anti-film/film is dead/ why would anyone use film comments circulating off the back of the story. Well Kodak’s film stock may be going bye-bye, but Ilford are turning a profit, Fuji are doing okay, despite whittling the range down, and there are plenty of Eastern European companies making film. There’s even Lomography, and let’s face it, any company who’s livelihood is built on selling cheap plastic cameras to people who’ll pay a massive premium for them is going to make sure there’s film available.

Kodak may be dead, but film lives on, despite the naysayers.

Portrait

Of all the shots in my back catalogue, this is the one I’m proudest of. Taken six years ago, this was part of my first personal photo project. Taking advantage of the Government’s edict that parents could take a certain amount of unpaid leave to look after children, an opportunity presented itself where I needed to take a month off. I decided that I would spend the month following my two year old daughter around and capture that period of her life.

I decided on a 1 camera, 1 lens, 1 film approach for the month. My choices were a Nikon F100 (I really do miss that camera), a 50mm F1.8 AF-D and because most of the shots would be in the house I opted for Kodak T-MAX 3200 as my film.

This shot was taken as she was settling down for the night and was lit with a single bedside lamp, a simple and natural setup.

I love this shot. I like the composition, the way she is staring at the camera. I love the grain and the contrast of the film. Kodak really made a great film in the 3200 T-MAX emulsion. Most of all I really love the lighting, which for me, makes this image.

A sad anecdote: I posted this image elsewhere shortly after it was developed and someone commented that it was out of focus and too soft, suggesting I should have chosen a lower ISO. It made me realise that there was a generation of photographers growing up without understanding the finer points of film, especially a film like T-MAX 3200. Made me feel very lucky to have grown up on film.

Brough Station

These scans are taken during college evening classes taken a few years ago! This was an evening out shooting at Brough railway station. This was my favourite from that night. a long exposure as the train arrived and a second long exposure as the train left. It always reminds me of a classic black and white movie.

The second image kind of sums up the style I had at the time. I was mostly about shades, shadows and textures, and I loved how this turned out.

Both shot on Kodak Tmax100 and when printed up on Agfa paper looked nice and punchy.

I do miss playing around in the darkroom.