With 62% of adults owning a digital camera, personal photography has become very homogeneous and in my opinion much less a process of discovery. Not only has the general consumer gone digital, almost every professional photographer has made the leap to digital just to stay in business. With the death of the still image on the horizon Kodak announced that they will be eliminating the production of Kodachrome film. For decades, Kodachrome was the standard choice for professional color photography and avant-garde filmmaking. (It's the only film to have a state park named after it - photogenic Kodachrome Basin State Park in the red-rock canyons of southern Utah). The elimination of Kodachrome is just one of many signs that the new era of image making is officially here.
I understand this change is a natural cycle of technology and business but I'm truly sad to see so many quirky photographic processes and experiments fade from the creative process. If there is a bright spot in all of this there has been a revival of low-fi cameras and experimentation. Holgas, Dianas, Lubitels and just about anything else that puts light on film have been dusted off to capture the distinctive quality of pictures that only they can create.
I'm a big fan of cross processing and enjoyed the surprise of opening the pack of prints because of the vivid colors. The images at the top of this entry I took a couple of winters ago in Chicago and Santo Domingo.
You can stream more low-fi images at
http://www.flickr.com/groups/35mmtoycameras
Art can meet personal objectives. Advertising has to meet business objectives. Can't we all just get along?
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