Kodachrome film first hit the photography market in 1936 and on June 22, 2009, Kodak officially retired Kodachrome color transparency film after 74 years. On December 30, 2010, the last roll of Kodachrome will be processed at Dwayne’s Photo in Kansas.
Any photographer who ever took a picture has fond memories of this film and probably a few thousand 35mm Kodachrome slides stashed in a closet somewhere. Paul Simon immortalized Kodachrome film and the Nikon camera with this song in 1973.
Lyrics to Kodachrome:
When I think back on all the crap I’ve learned in high school It’s a wonder I can think at all Though my lack of education hasn’t hurt me much I can read the writings on the walls Kodachrome, they give us those nice bright colors They give us the greens of summers Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away If you took all the girls I knew when I was single Brought ’em all together for one night I know they’d never match my sweet imagination Everything looks worse in black and white Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away . . .
