Reading Eagle editor, Harry Dietz, takes us on a nostalgic path with a view of the world of photography in journalism.  

Momma, they’re taking the Kodachrome away

I love the instant reward of digital photography, but occasionally I miss the personal touch of film, printing and darkrooms.

My first newspaper job was as a news photographer almost 40 years ago. I was a summer fill-in for a much older and much more experienced photographer who was out on medical leave at a small daily. He was the photography staff at that paper, and it was a great and humbling experience trying to fill his shoes.

I learned what photography was all about. I loaded my own 35 mm film cartridges, processed film in canisters of developer and fixer, made black and white prints through an enlarger in a darkroom, learned how to dodge and burn, learned not to turn on the lights when the lid was off the box of the photographic paper, dried the prints and trimmed them.

All that came after actually capturing images through a camera and not knowing what I had until I was in the darkroom.

There’s something special about putting that much time into a product. There’s more of an investment. Each print becomes personal.

I would never want to go back to the non-digital days, but much of the real experience of photography is lost on those who never worked in a darkroom.

I’m also glad I had the experience of using a Glaflex Speed Graphic camera, which commonly was called a 4 x 5 because of the film size. You loaded flat sheets of film into a plate, which was inserted into the back of the large camera. It was clumsy, but you learned to pay attention to details.

With a Speed Graphic, you took one shot at a time, no motor drives and multiple exposures per second.

I have a 4 x 5 in my office to bring back some of those good memories and to remind me of where I started in the newspaper business.

Of course, that gave way to a Mamiya C330 twin lens reflex and a 35 mm Nikon and the widespread use of color. Now all of that equipment is disappearing too.

A recent Associated Press story cited a Photo Marketing Association report that 20 million rolls of film will be purchased this year, down from almost 1 billion 11 years ago.

Years ago, my father and I should have bought and sold stock in Eastman Kodak Company. Shortly before my first newspaper job, we had started a part-time wedding photography business. It grew so popular that it filled every weekend. One Saturday, we did four weddings; one weekend, we did five. It paid for my college education and my sister’s. That added to my fond history and appreciation of film.

The decline of film photography has been sad but inevitable. Ecologically, it is the right move. No more wasted paper and film, no more hazardous chemicals released into sewage systems. If you take a digital photograph and don’t like it, it can be erased and replaced. And I believe fewer people actually have prints made now because they can view them on cameras, viewers, computers and the Internet.

I have moved on. I love the instant gratification and assurance of digital photography, and so does my 83-year-old father. Still, sometimes I miss the nice bright colors that Paul Simon sang about in “Kodachrome” and wonder if there could ever be a song about digital photography.

Momma, they’re taking my Kodachrome away.

(SOURCE: Reading Eagle, Sunday, July 10, 2011) – Contact Harry Deitz: 610-371-5004 or hdeitz@readingeagle.com