No more "...nice bright colors..."

No more greens of summer. Kodak has announced it is discontinuing Kodachrome.

Right now, there is one laboratory in the world that still processes Kodachrome film, "Dwayne's Photo" in Parsons, Kansas.

This makes me sad for a couple of reasons.

First, a year or so ago I shot half a dozen rolls of analog film for the first time in ages, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of taking real pictures, especially just watching the world go by through a long lens for minutes on end. There is a huge qualitative difference to analog photography versus digital photography, and despite the massive disparity in cost, I miss analog.

Second, when I first got a decent camera as a young man—not a Nikon, but a Nikkormat—I shot both Kodachrome and Ektachrome, mostly slides, and I confess to preferring Ektachrome for its slightly different color rendition. But I went through many rolls of both.

Third, "Kodachrome" is one of those songs that pretty much always makes me happy when I hear it:

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school,
Its a wonder I can think at all
And though my lack of education hasn’t hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

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,
And brought them all together for one night,
I know they’d never match my sweet imagination
And everything looks worse in black and white

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

Sigh. Sic transit gloria mundi.

"Kodachrome" lyrics by Paul Simon. Kodachrome, Nikon and Nikkormat are trademarks of their respective owners.