Once, long long ago (RIP Kodachrome)

Once, long long ago a giant ruled the land, he still lives but is a Mirror shadow of himself. The mighty giant was all knowing and powerful until one day when a eager competitor arrived on the scene they did battle with one growing stronger and the other getting weaker. You see the giant was over confident and thought he could rule the world for ever. The giant had many trusted weapons in his arsenal and he knew that they were good and some were the finest in all the world, and he was right. For years he relied on what he had and did not look to the future. This would eventually being his undoing.

Today he still is out there but he is no giant anymore he is gust one of the guys. Years ago he was know far and wide as the Great Yellow Father, you may know him as Kodak.

This image was originally made on Kodak’s Kodachrome 25! RIP Kodachrome

Sorry, Paul Simon, Kodak's taking Kodachrome away

I just recieved this in my in box I'll comment on Kodak later in the day.

Sorry, Paul Simon, Kodak's taking Kodachrome away

By Carolyn Thompson
Associated Press

-- Sorry, Paul Simon, Kodak is taking your Kodachrome away.

The Eastman Kodak Co. announced today it's retiring its most senior film because of declining customer demand in an increasingly digital age.

The world's first commercially successful color film, immortalized in song by Simon, spent 74 years in Kodak's portfolio. It enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s and '60s but in recent years has nudged closer to obscurity: Sales of Kodachrome are now just a fraction of 1 percent of the company's total sales of still-picture films, and only one commercial lab in the world still processes it.

Those numbers and the unique materials needed to make it convinced Kodak to call its most recent manufacturing run the last, said Mary Jane Hellyar, the outgoing president of Kodak's Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group.

"Kodachrome is particularly difficult (to retire) because it really has become kind of an icon," Hellyar said.

The company now gets about 70 percent of its revenue from its digital business, but plans to stay in the film business "as far into the future as possible," Hellyar said. She points to the seven new professional still films and several new motion picture films introduced in the last few years and to a strategy that emphasizes efficiency.

"Anywhere where we can have common components and common design and common chemistry that let us build multiple films off of those same components, then we're in a much stronger position to be able to continue to meet customers' needs," she said.

Kodachrome, because of a unique formula, didn't fit in with the philosophy and was made only about once a year.

Simon sang about it in 1973 in the aptly titled "Kodachrome."

"They give us those nice bright colors. They give us the greens of summers. Makes you think all the world's a sunny day," he sang. "... So Mama don't take my Kodachrome away."

Indeed, Kodachrome was favored by still and motion picture photographers for its rich but realistic tones, vibrant colors and durability.

It was the basis not only for countless family slideshows on carousel projectors over the years but also for world-renowned images, including Abraham Zapruder's 8 mm reel of President John F. Kennedy's assassination on Nov. 22, 1963.

Photojournalist Steve McCurry's widely recognized portrait of an Afghan refugee girl, shot on Kodachrome, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. At Kodak's request, McCurry will shoot one of the last rolls of Kodachrome film and donate the images to the George Eastman House museum, which honors the company's founder, in Rochester.

For McCurry, who after 25 years with Kodachrome moved on to digital photography and other films in the last few years, the project will close out an era.

"I want to take (the last roll) with me and somehow make every frame count ... just as a way to honor the memory and always be able to look back with fond memories at how it capped and ended my shooting Kodachrome," McCurry said last week from Singapore, where he has an exhibition at the Asian Civilizations Museum.

As a tribute to the film, Kodak has compiled on its Web site a gallery of iconic images, including McCurry's Afghan girl and others from photographers Eric Meola and Peter Guttman.

Guttman used Kodachrome for 16 years, until about 1990, before switching to Kodak's more modern Ektachrome film, and he calls it "the visual crib that I was nurtured in." He used it to create a widely published image of a snowman beneath a solar eclipse, shot in the dead of winter in North Dakota.

"I was pretty much entranced by the incredibly realistic tones and really beautiful color," Guttman said, "but it didn't have that artificial Crayola coloration of some of the other products that were out there."

Unlike any other color film, Kodachrome is purely black and white when exposed. The three primary colors that mix to form the spectrum are added in three development steps rather than built into its layers.

Because of the complexity, only Dwayne's Photo, in Parsons, Kan., still processes Kodachrome film. The lab has agreed to continue through 2010, Kodak said.

Hellyar estimates the retail supply of Kodachrome will run out in the fall, though it could be sooner if devotees stockpile. In the U.S., Kodachrome film is available only through photo specialty dealers. In Europe, some retailers, including the Boots chain, carry it.

On the Net:

Kodak: www.kodak.com

When new directions come from old directions

We need to challenge ourselves everyday push in new directions or old directions just push. I recently decided to change my focus ( Pardon the pun) of my business. Yes the current economy has a part to play in this as well as feeling too complacent with my work. So I decided to go back to an old formula that had worked well for me.

I’m betting your asking what is he talking about ? Well I have been shooting stock Photos for close to 20 years or so, but the last number of years it has been on a back burner. I am making an effort to shoot more images and get them in the hands of my agencies.

I am not sure what this will mean to the bottom line for the business, but I have a renewed enthusiasm for making images so I gotta believe that the rest will fall in to place. Having just written this I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes on photography.

"Shoot what you love and you'll love what you shoot"

-John Sexton

Exploring a subject

Exploring a subject with your camera can lead to some great images. What I mean is that after taking the first couple of images of a scene look at it from different angles. Pretend it is something you have never seen before. Making detail images by getting up close and check out the shapes, colors and contrast. Sometimes this can produce a much more interesting image than your typical ID image. Your viewer dose not necessarily to know what the environment of the image looks like.

Both the images in this post are from the same location and subject but tell different stories and could have totally different uses. The peppers drying on the roof and the ristas that have been finished and on display could be used to illustrate an article on the southwest in a magazine or a Textbook. While the close up could also be used for these projects I Like the graphic quality and would tend to use it more for a Fine art print or perhaps as an element in a page layout rather than an Id image.

Weather you are photographing in your backyard or you have traveled halfway across the planet to make photographs. Be sure to take the time to really explore the subject that you are photographing, You will be sure to be surprised with the results.

I’ve been asked to speak at a local camera club and I happily agreed. Then I thought what am I doing I have no program to present!  After some thought I decided to go with the idea of revisiting a subject time and again not only throughout a year but throughout a life time to record the changes that take place ever so slowly in natural world. Over time there can be huge changes.

For instance the Tamarack tree behind the post was once full of branches that hung down and shade the base of the tree. They also made some great framing when photographing across the rocks that signify the beginning of the Mississippi River.

I other places it might be the growth of the local vegetation, or erosion. Maybe the landmark has been restored or just painted.

By going back time and time you can also keep your images current and over the years you can daw on the older ones if some one needs some historical reference. An example would be Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue ox in Bemidji Minnesota. Years ago be for the whole downtown area was revitalized and the built a new visitors center. Blacktop surrounded  Paul & Babe, To day they have cement and brick work, which is much more appealing. I have sold both image many times.

Tucson Arizona for some reason is one of my favorite locations in Arizona. It must be because the diversity of subject matter in a relatively short drive from where you might stay.

I have since my first visit to the area in the 1970’s loved the Sonoran Desert. especially in the spring time when the cacti begin to bloom. The terrain  allows you to choose many different angles for photographing.

My newest favorite spot in Tucson would undoubtable be Barrio Lebria, The oldest neighborhood in Tucson, It is subject rich, Although it has been discovered and it is being re-paired building by building, The buildings are being painted. This is sad and exciting at the same time. I feel lucky to have found this spot when I did, I just wonder what it was like five years earlier.

While my main focus (pardon the pun) is on nature I just love to shoot interesting buildings and details new and old but mostly old. And with in a few blocks of Barrio Lebria there exists so much subject matter that its almost hard to believe.

National Loon Appreciation Week 2009

Peter Hawkins brings his fine art photography back to the Walker Leech Lake area. Peter grew up in the Walker area spending much of his time out on Leech Lake photographing the common loon. 

Peter has been creating photographic images of nature  for over twenty-five years. He is passionate about his subjects and considers their well-being more important than the photograph. It can take days if not weeks to make a single image, depending on the  behavior of the subject.

Peter’s image of a loon on the nest was selected to be on the National Loon Appreciation Week poster for 2009. This event is put on each year by the Sigrud Olson Environmental Institute at the Northland College in Ashland Wisconsin. In conjunction with this event Peter is doing two poster signings. The first will be held on May 15th at 6:30pm at the Hartley Nature Center in Duluth Minnesota, The second will be at the Artist and Crafters Mall of Walker on May 22nd. from 2pm till closing.

Peter looks forward to joining the other fine local artisans at the Artist and Crafters Mall of Walker who will be the exclusive retail location for Peter’s work in downtown Walker, Peter is constantly creating new images and looking for creative ways to display his work.

Those familiar with Peter’s work will find some old favorites and exciting new images from places like Itasca State Park, Split Rock Lighthouse and around Minnesota. There will be some images from Peter’s travels which may include Hawaii, the pacific northwest and the desert south west. There will be a wide selection of images to choose from.