Kodachrome: R.I.P. : The Picture ShowFirst Polaroid, now Kodachrome. Kodak announced Monday that it will be ending production of its most senior color slide film. It amounts to less than 1 percent of sales of still-pictures films, Kodak argues. But it accounts for a large percentage ...
First Polaroid, now Kodachrome. Kodak announced Monday that it will be ending production of its most senior color slide film. It amounts to less than 1 percent of sales of still-pictures films, Kodak argues. But it accounts for a large percentage of family archives, of National Geographic magazines, of photographic collections. Listen to the NPR story here.
Photographer Steve McCurry captured the iconic "Afghan Girl" image using Kodak's Kodachrome film. This photo held the June 1985 cover spot of National Geographic, and was named to the American Society of Magazine Editors' "40 Greatest Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years" list in 2005. Kodak announced Monday that it would be discontinuing the production of Kodachrome film.
National Geographic Society
Seen here in 1953, Piccadilly Circus is one of London's busiest intersections. These photos and others will be on display at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C., from June 25 to September 7, as part of an exhibit on "Kodachrome Culture."
David Boyer/National Geographic
Glacial ice scooped out this lake of Hjorund Fjord, seen in 1957. The surrounding Sunnmore Alps rise between 4,000 and 6,000 feet.
Andrew H. Brown/National Geographic
The band in Matrei, Austria, raises a toast to the 1,700th birthday of their city.
Volkmar Wentzel/National Geographic
In 1957, tourists feed pigeons in Venice's St. Mark's Square.
Ardian R. Miller/National Geographic
A man and his son ride a cable car in the Alps with Mer de Glace Glacier and Mont Blanc as a background.
Walter Meayers Edwards/National Geographic
In Funchal, Portugal, taxi drivers push visitors up a hill in wooden sledges to admire the view. The trip back down is swift, as they bump along a cobbled road.
B. Anthony Stewart/National Geographic
Monaco's Exotic Garden was built in 1931 by Prince Albert I who wanted to bring subtropical plant life to the French Alps. It was photographed here in 1963.
Gilbert M. Grosvenor/National Geographic
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Oddly enough, National Geographic had been planning a Kodachrome exhibit to open this week. It was meant to be a celebration of the impending 75th anniversary of the film that changed the course of photography. Instead, it will be something of a funeral. With the advent of digital technologies, expensive processes like analog color film photography are falling by the wayside.
Kodak has also put together a slideshow of memorable photographs taken by Eric Meola, Steve McCurry and Peter Guttman. View it on their Web site.
