Once the darling of the photography world, long-time film maker Kodak is close to filing for bankruptcy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The company is currently shedding $US70 million a month as it tries to shift its business model from film to printers. The entire situation is quite sad when you realise how intertwined Kodak is to not just America’s past, but the collective photographic memories of everyone with a photo album. According to WSJ sources, unless the company finds buyers for its patents, Kodak could file for Chapter 11 as soon as this month.
Evolve or die folks, evolve or die. [WSJ]
Antipodean
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:16 AMThey already produce digital cameras, so why didn’t they just expand on that? They probably get them made through a third party, but they should have seen the writing on the wall twenty years ago. I remember seeing the beginnings of the tech back when I was doing my photography course in the eighties. Even I knew that the future of photography was in digital!
smurfydog
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:19 PMI’m glad for you that you were a believer.
I was stuck in the “digital will never replace REAL photography” camp until 7 or 8 years ago.
And I’m still kind of sad that digital won. I miss the darkroom. The smells, the skills and time and effort it took to make a great print.
I even miss not knowing what you shot until it was developed, and not really seeing it until it was printed. Because back then you took care to make sure it was right, because every shot had a cost.
I’m talking actual dollars here. Film cost money, as did processing and printing. So you took the effort to make every frame as good as you could.
These days you can shoot the equivelent of a dozen rolls of film and it won’t cost you a cent. Yes, that’s a great thing, but it’s also a curse. It’s great because it helps the budding photographer to learn technique without costing a fortune, but it’s a curse because it encourages an attitude that it doesn’t really matter what you do because you can always try again.
I know i’m rambling here, but I think my point is that if you go out and take 100 pictures and every one of them costs you money, you are highly likely to learn from the results. You don’t want to repeat your expensive mistakes.
BUT if you take the same 100 pictures and it doesn’t cost a cent, then there’s no incentive to hone your skills and improve your craft.
[/rant] ;D
.
Matthew Post
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:23 AMIt will be a sad day, leaving (iirc) only fuji to make colour negative film :(