Back to the Past

I learned today that that there is now only one photo shop - literally, one - on the entire planet authorized to process Kodachrome film. Sure, it was obviously going to happen, and obviously, one day, that one shop will also cease processing. It's inevitable, as time and technology move on.

Or...do they?

Take a look at the photos posted early in the thread:

Kodachrome photos on DP Review

Absolutely stunning, and taken 65 years ago with equipment my kids wouldn't even recognize as a camera. Equipment you can buy used for pennies on the dollar that puts to shame virtually every digital camera in existence.

More here:

Alfred Palmer @ Shorpy.com
Jack Delano @ Shorpy.com

What the hell happened? Billions of dollars - decades of time - spent on research and development and only now do we have digital cameras that can - maybe - arguably - approach the image quality first obtained 65 years ago. Meanwhile an entire generation of would-be photographers is growing up without any understanding of just how far the tonal boundaries were pushed decades before they were even born.

This is a strange definition of progress...

The cure for writers' block...

...is to write.

Something, anything.

Strange that something like this can be found so close to million-dollar "green" condos.

Still Alive!

You'd think moving from a startup situation to an acquired-company situation would ease the work-life balance a bit - but no such luck. Right now I'm in Italy doing 70 hour weeks trying to bring a new system to life and the workload is brutal.

So even though Cortina d'Ampezzo is just up the street and Venice is just down the street - no new photos. Not strictly true - I have phone-photos of the system as it slows slumbers to life but those are obviously not shareable.

Changes

Every step of my "day job" life has involved moving from larger companies to smaller ones. The happiest - and arguably most productive time I've ever spent at work was at a startup in Boston where 6 of us were bringing to life a new technology. I miss that crew, and I miss that time, and one day I hope to recreate it.

That said, this was a rather momentous week for me as for the first time in my professional existence I am moving from a smaller company to a larger one.

Dolby Acquires Brightside

It's going to be an interesting summer...