The film, known for its rich color saturation and archival durability of it's slides, was discontinued last year to the dismay of scores of photographers worldwide. But Kodak gave the last roll ever produced to McCurry & he's just processed that coveted roll at Dwayne's Photo Service in Parsons, Kan. — the last remaining location that processes the iconic film. And what was on it?
According to an article by Ben Dobbins, " McCurry took aim at the Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Terminal and a few human icons, too. Paul Simon, the singer-songwriter synonymous with the fabled film's richly saturated colors, shied away. But Robert De Niro stood in for the world of filmmaking. Then McCurry headed from his base in New York City to southern Asia, where in 1984 he shot a famous portrait of a green-eyed Afghan refugee girl that made the cover of National Geographic. In India, he snapped a tribe whose nomadic way of life is disappearing — just as Kodachrome is ".
The images, along with the process of capturing these images will be documented in a Nat Geo TV special to be shown in the fall. And McCurry's has a piece of advice for photographers with unprocessed Kodachrome film lying around: Get it to Dwayne's Photo! The Kansas photo shop will stop processing Kodachrome rolls on Dec. 30th. And with it will end a chapter in photographic history.
To see Mr Dobbin's article from the Minneapolis Star-Ledger, click onto the following link: http://tiny.cc/vbzfh. (Photo of Kodachrome slide mount by Fay Ratta)
BTW, Basic DSLR Class Tomorrow (8/5) - 7PM at the store.