At Bikers Brew we like to share

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Whatever happened to Kodak?

Image by anankkml from freedigitalphotos.net

I grew up in a time when film was king. My dad was an avid photography enthusiast. We even had a small dark room (for your young 'uns out there, this is where negatives and photographs were processed and printed).

I remember Saturday mornings and there would be a red light bulb on outside the darkroom door. We all knew what that meant, DO NOT ENTER. We didn't mind because we would look forward to the photographs that my dad would be showing us after his darkroom session.

Nowadays that digital format is king, the film medium is a shadow of its former self. And so is the film empire of Kodak. There are still pockets of film enthusiasts worldwide, but their numbers are nothing like before.

Makes you wonder what happened to Kodak, one time king of the film world. Here's a short video by the New York Times that I came across that hopefully answers some of your questions.

For a guy who grew up around film, this made me a little nostalgic. It's good to know though that Kodak, though a much smaller company now, is transforming itself and still trying to make itself relevant in this digital age.

http://nyti.ms/1bljXeI


6 comments:

  1. Those were the days. I remember always being mindful of the film and not wasting a shot, something I still do even when using digital cameras. Anyhow, Kodak is back in the game with a smartphone :)

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  2. Same here, film wasn't cheap, specially on a student's budget then. But I do miss the darkroom experience which was just amazing. Processing your film then developing it. Magical.

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  3. I remember a time when I covered a wedding and I thought I would make it easier for myself and had 4 of 36-shot rolls of film.

    And back then, photographers did not have to look at the back of the camera for a view of the shot they just took.

    Photographers were mindful then of how and when they pressed the shutter.

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    1. Totally agree Paeng, we were more mindful of our shots then.

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  4. Same here.... I love how film produces genuine photos.. I respect Photographers who use or have used Films, too. My uncle was a Photog by profession and I literally grew up in his "DO NOT ENTER" black room hehe. ;) I love your blog, straightforward!

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    1. Thanks for the kind words Millie! I'm lucky to have been able to experience the dark room, for me it's part and parcel of the allure of the film genre.

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