Kodachrome film retired, ‘Afghan Girl’ photographer remembers
The world’s first commercially successful color film, which made its debut in 1935, will conclude its run this year due to limited demand.
“Kodachrome is an iconoic product and a testament to Kodak’s long and continuing leadership in imaging technology,” said mary jane Hellvar, President of Kodak’s Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group in a released statement.
Kodachrome represents “just a fraction” of one percent of Kodak’s total sales of still-picture films.
Kodachrome is a complex film to manufacture and an even more complex film to process, Kodak noted in a press release. Only one photofinishing lab in the world for the film remains, the company notes: Dwayne’s Photo in Parson’s Kansas.
Kodak has created an online gallery of iconic images shot with the film.
Visit Kodachrome Tribute on the company’s website to see the gallery.
Among the photos included Steve McCurry’s picture of a young Afghan girl captured for the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1985.
MCurry said in a comment included in the press release that while he used the film extensively in the early part of his career, he has now moved on to new films.
“The early part of my career was dominated by Kodachrome Film, and I reached for that film to shoot some of my most memorable images,” said McCurry in the Kodak release.
“While Kodachrome Film was very good to me, I have since moved on to other films and digital to create my images. In fact, when I returned to shoot the ‘Afghan Girl’ 17 years later, I used Kodak Professional Ektachrome Film E100VS to create that image, rather than Kodachrome Film as with the original.”
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