For 75 years, Kodachrome was the film of choice for many serious photographers. But Kodachrome is no more. The last roll of Kodachrome film, shot by Steve McCurry, a National Geographic photographer best known for his cover image of an Afghan girl, was processed in December 2010 by Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas. The 36-frame roll of film contained images McCurry shot in New York and India, as well as the last three frames he shot in Parsons.
Dwayne's Photo was the last photo shop in the country to offer Kodachrome photo processing. They are now no longer offering the service.
McCurry told the
Wichita Eagle that the film included images from a disappearing tribe in India. "I photographed a tribe that is actually on the verge of extinction. It's actually disappearing, the same way as Kodachrome."
Despite dominating the professional photography market for so long, Kodachrome couldn't compete with new technology. It "eventually succumbed to pressure from even more vibrant slide films, like Fuji Velvia, and from consumers moving to the more accessible print film, and eventually to the tsunami which is digital photography," said an article in
Treehugger.
Kodak announced the end of the film in 2009 and gave the last roll to McCurry at that time. A film crew followed the photographer around to document the final journey of the film roll.
Photo courtesy Kodak.
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