There are probably a lot of people on here who have much longer and fonder memories of this magically slide film called Kodachrome. Kodak canceled the long running film in 2009 along with all support and additional products needed to run the K-14 process. Introduced in 1935 Kodachrome became the first commercially available colour films. It featured bright colours, and long lasting stability. The reason for this was at its very core Kodachrome was a black and white film, with each emulsion layer sensitive to a different colour. Then during the process the dyes were introduced and stuck to the layers to bring out the colours.
I came into Kodachrome far too late.
At the beginning of 2010 Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, KS announced they would be continuing to process Kodachrome but only will accept orders for processing until December 31st, 2010. The Race was on. Having shot three rolls to this point, those three being major disappointments (poor storage), I went hunting on both Ebay and within the local photographer population and managed to secure myself six more rolls. Living in Canada meant that I had at least a month turn around for my photos.
These photos are from that last roll that I shot on December 18th, 2010. I went along King Street for the most part in Toronto, a street I hadn’t really explored that much with the camera. After I finished the roll, I mailed it off that same day.
This was the very last frame I shot, the building is the City of Toronto’s First Post Office (4th Post office for the City of York) it was shut down after the Rebellions in1837 when the postmaster was framed for aiding the anti-government rebels. It was restored and reopened in 1983 and serves both as a full service Post Office (I mailed the roll off that day from the post office to Dwayne’s) and a museum.
Contax G2 – Carl Zeiss Biogon 2,8/28 T* – Kodachrome 64 (KR)
For all my Kodachrome shots (Including the first failed rolls) you can visit my Last Days of Kodachrome set on Flickr
But fear not! As I mentioned previously, Kodachrome is at it’s core a black and white film, so several people have been experimenting with processing the film in normal b/w chemicals! The results, spectacular! So don’t ditch those spare rolls (if you have any) laying around! Sharp Photo does a good job as does Blue Moon Camera. (If you don’t want/need them, you can always send them to me…)
