The Way We Were Wednesday - My Kodachrome
The kid in the red hat, to match his red hair, is my oldest brother. I don't know who the child in the blue is, likely one of Great-Uncle John's sons. This is a scan of a Kodachrome slide, taken in the early 1950s. Kodachrome was an amazing technology, the color dyes were added in the processing, not in embedded in the film. The result was amazingly stable color. The later Ektachrome had the color dyes in the film - a system that has proven to not have the same archival life. Kodak is bringing back Ektachrome, the last Kodachrome processing machine was shut down a few years ago, without that key machine the process will not work. We will never get our Kodachrome back. Only time will tell if we will be able to open our digital images in 60 years, or how well they will age.
The darkening around the edges of the image was caused by the lens on the camera. In bright light, the image edges distorted resulting the dark shadow around the edges. Shortly after this was taken my father bought a much better Argus C3, and passed this camera onto his sister Edith (it is probably still in the house in Florida.)
Anyone humming a tune?
When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school... oh you rat!
ReplyDeleteand it WAS nothing but crap too!
Deleteanne marie:
DeleteIt's a wonder I can think at all... BUT, I can read the writing on the wall.
"kodachrome
ReplyDeletegives us the nice bright colors
gives us the greens of summers
makes you think all's a sunny day, oh yeah"
Of course I'm humming that tune! Thanks for explaining exactly what Kodachrome film was. I never knew the technicalities of it before.
ReplyDeleteMama don't take my kodachrome away (the only part of the lyrics I know) is going to be zipping thru my mind all day! I disliked this song when it first came out, and that hasn't changed one bit! Thanks so much for this earworm and you can shove your kodachrome where the sun don't shine! Forget that last part, just venting :)
ReplyDeleteMade me giggle
Delete