Last of the Kodachromes: Part 3

Winter in the Orchard

The very last Kodachrome film I had was shot on a winter's day at the end of December 2010. It went in the post to the USA on my birthday, the 20th, which meant it had just 10 days to reach the processing lab for the facility for processing this type of film was closed.



I'd held onto this last film during the whole of November and most of December. We had snow, which was picturesque, but we didn't have sunshine with blue skies to liven everything up until that last week-end.



I've taken photographs of these old Cherry Trees before. They stand almost broken and certainly twisted in a small field off the beaten track close to Hof ter Saksen. I suppose they were once part of a proper Orchard. They do still blossom but I'm not sure they fruit as I'm generally away in early summer.



From time to time when I visit the field is used for Heifers. This is problematic as they are very curious and will lumber over if I nip under the fence to take some shots. I don't like to be in the field with them as they seem like unruly adolescents.



Last year I was disappointed to discover that the farmer had felled a couple of the trees which were, in fact, dead. I still liked them though as they had interesting shapes,

Last of the Kodachromes: Part 1

Winter in the Park

Kodachrome film was discontinued  at the end of 2009. The film wasn't processed using the common E6 process for colour film but used a special process. This meant the film had to be sent away for processing in special labs. These were spread around the world but as the use of this film declined so the labs closed. Dwayne's Photo in Kansas, USA, was the last, and this closed it's Kodachrome processing facility in December 2010.



When I first heard the news about Kodachrome I didn't pay much attention as I usually shot digital and I believed I didn't have any Kodachrome film in my fridge. I was wrong. About 5 years ago as digital started to replace film many of the older style camera and photography shops started to close. I was still shooting a lot of film at the time and I went around many of these shops picking up old stocks of film as I went. Some of them were past there sell-by-date, but this just meant I got an even cheaper price.



I eventually stacked up quite a collection of film which I store in a fridge in the shed. I have both 120 and 35mm film to use up.



Eventually I paid attention to the Kodachrome story and decided I'd better look and see. I found 5 rolls of 36 exposure 35mm film. It was already October 2010. I'd better get on the case, shoot the film, and get it to the lab on time.