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Stephen Schaub, over at Figital Revolution, has laid down some common sense about film scanners today that I hope Kodak runs with. Check out his audio-blog entry and get it straight from him, if you’re not already following The Figital Revolution in your feed reader. You should be, if you love film and fine-art photography.
But the gist of his post is this: Kodak (he says) has the technology on the shelf to make a simple, high-quality film scanner at the $500 price point; and they should do this if they want to help ensure an ongoing market for their film products. It’s an interesting idea, if Stephen’s information is accurate. His post has prompted me to think more about all this, and how it might work.
For Kodak to implement such an idea would pay homage to its earliest days, when George Eastman told his customers, “You press the button, we do the rest!” Back then, you bought the “Kodak” ready to go with 100 exposures already loaded. You shot them all up, and returned camera and all to Kodak for processing. Kodak returned your pictures along with your camera, preloaded in Rochester with another 100 shots. It would comport with this Kodak tradition of soup-to-nuts customer service to offer a low-cost scanner—assuming it can be done profitably. Whether they would be willing to take on the financial risk, in their current fiscal straits, during a stubbornly-persistent recession, is another question. I’d love to see it happen; but I’m not betting the (shrunken) 401k on it.
Kodak generates a huge portion of its cash flow on an analog product, film, much of which is consumed as the first step in an analog-digital hybrid workflow—exactly what The Figital Revolution is all about. The majority of color (still) film shot today is destined for scanning, followed by digital printing, if prints are made at all. But with the current pre-eminence of digital for color still photography, color film is the most-endangered segment of the film market. Who, then, is buying color film, and how to keep them buying it? Digital has pretty much conquered the snapshot-taking consumer public on one end of the user spectrum, and the commercial/editorial/portrait/wedding pros on the other end. For these people, digital is the right choice for many reasons: immediate gratification, ease of image dissemination, film and processing cost, turnaround time, client demand. There’s not much, really, that Kodak or anyone else can do to lead these people back to film. That ship has sailed and it’s not coming back. Click to read entire post »Figital scanner solution?
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Over on the Analog Photography Users Group there are frequent threads discussing rumors of this or that film being discontinued. Often, these turn out to be unfounded third-hand speculation. But this time, it appears that the evidence is nearly incontrovertible that Fuji is discontinuing every professional color negative film but 400H. This means that there will be no more Fuji color-negative sheet film at all, and only one emulsion in the roll film sizes. Wow.
For those who don’t know of him, Scott Sheppard is the fellow who does the Inside Analog Photo podcast—to which you should be subscribed if you love film photography. Scott knows all the major industry players—he’s interviewed many of them for his podcasts—so when he relates that he’s received this news at face-to-face meetings with Fuji execs, you can believe him.
So no more 160C, 160S, or 800Z in any size. I won’t miss 160C; I’ve tried it but never found it to my liking as much as the 160VC Portra for which it is an approximate counterpart. And I’ve shot but little 800Z, and I could use the Portra 800 if I needed the speed. (Assuming it doesn’t get the axe, as has been rumored from time to time.)
But I will definitely miss 160S. It has a more neutral color rendering than either of the 160 Portra films. It has the bright color punch I associate with Portra VC, but the natural rendering of skin tones characteristic of Portra NC. It looks good in just about any light, to boot. Thus, it really is an “intermediate” choice between the two Portras, and can do the job of either in many situations. I have been slowly simplifying and right-sizing my personal repertoire of emulsions, and I was thinking of making it my only 160 film. I’m tempted to stock up on it before it’s gone, but what would be the point when good alternatives exist? I may as well transition away from it now and learn the Portras more fully, and move on. Click to read entire post »Nearly all Fuji color negative films to be discontinued
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Fraction Magazine Issue #12 is now available for your viewing pleasure. David Bram and his colleagues have created something beautiful there, and well worth your time. The site is clean and uncluttered, leaving the photography front and center, where it should be.
Fraction features work from across the spectrum of contemporary photography: color, monochrome, analog, digital, alt-process; you name it. Beauty and excellence are his unifying themes in every issue. (Well, usually. He featured my work in Issue #7.)
Fraction #12 is all-monochrome. Though I’d hate to have to choose among the five artists whose work graces the issue, I want to congratulate my friend Isa Leshko—whom I met at PhotoNOLA in December—for her inclusion. Way to go Isa!
What I really want right now, though, is a Fraction T-shirt. No XXL, alas….
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Kodak recently announced that Ektar 100, its stunningly sharp, saturated, fine-grain color negative film, will soon be available in 4×5 and 8×10 sheet-film sizes. While this is good news on its face, it has led me to ruminate on the future of film in my work going forward. In case you’re wondering why Kodak’s good news should occasion reflection upon less-welcome possibilities, let me explain further. Click to read entire post »Making my peace with digital; or, Where To Go From Here?
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Got my application submitted. For once I wasn’t hard up against the deadline.
We’ll see what happens….It’d be great to make a trip to Santa Fe in June.
Not sure when to expect an announcement. I’ll be tooting my own horn most immodestly if anything comes of this one.
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After being accosted yet again today while photographing in my own neighborhood, I decided it’s time to update my website with information about privacy rights in public. Essentially, there are none, with some narrow exceptions and restrictions. If you don’t believe me, just ask Bert Krages; he’s your go-to attorney on the web when it comes to privacy and publicity law. Click to read entire post »Public privacy
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I’m very pleased to announce that my portfolio of work, 52 Miles, will be exhibited this spring in the virtual gallery of the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts.
My thanks again to Executive Director Paula Tognarelli and the Museum for this honor.
I’ll post an updated link once I have a firm date and other details; I expect the exhibition to happen sometime in April.
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 Hotel room view, Central Business District, New Orleans, 12/09. iPhone camera. I’m a week status post PhotoNOLA, and finally starting to more fully assimilate the experience. Bottom line: I’m so glad I went. I learned a lot; got useful feedback; gained some much-needed direction and confidence; and saw a boatload of first-class photography. And all the while throwing down on epicurean food and drink. Not even the cold drizzle could ruin the trip. I’m still trying to make sense of all of it; but herewith, a few preliminary thoughts.
Click to read entire post »PhotoNOLA debriefing
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Up to my neck in recent preparations for PhotoNOLA, I forgot to mention some blog love I’ve received. Grazie mille to Jin Zhu and Jeffrey Michael Smith for giving me the time of day on their respective blogs Shooting Wide Open and Academy A. I really appreciate your showing my work, guys*, and your kind and insightful comments. I’ve added both of these blogs to my feed reader, and I encourage everyone to check them out.
And speaking of PhotoNOLA—I just got back early this morning. I expect to have more to say about the experience here, but for now a simple “WOW” should suffice. On display were both exceptional photographic work of the highest caliber from sixty participants from all over the US and abroad; and a warm and welcoming spirit befitting the reputation of the host city—which happens to be the city of my birth.
More on that once I’ve assimilated it all, and gotten organized.
*Zhu is a female-type person.
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 Main Street, Louisville, 11/09. T-Max 400, RZ67, 127mm (?), TMAX dev I came across this affable young man while photographing among the ruins of a demolished fabric warehouse downtown last month. The light was perfect; it was late on a crystal clear fall afternoon.
I watched him for several minutes, snapping a few pedestrian shots of him going about his business. I’m still not sure what that business was, exactly. He said he was “working”, and it appeared he was sorting and stacking bricks. I asked him if I could photograph him; his brief flash of annoyance gave way to a look of flattered surprise. I didn’t get his name.
So, friend, if you see this, I have a print for you.
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