Kodachrome 25 Nostalgia

This movie has examples of Kodachrome II, 25 and home processed Ektachrome. Features Minolta, Leica and Kodak paraphernalia.

[ericathefae]

So cool to see these old film shots - the colours are so different than what we're used to today.

[RemyRAD]

We appear to be close to the same age. And we both started, similarly . Whereas all I got to start with was, a Kodak 100 Insta Matic . But then I got, both a wide angle and telephoto lens adapter for it. And a couple of filters .

My dad had a German, Conti Flex . Single lens reflex with 45 MM, standard lens. Did not have interchangeable lenses. And my first 35 MM camera. But then one day the shutter broke . When it was about 30 years old. So now I had to purchase my first, SLR camera .

Similar to you. I found myself a, Minolta Sr.-1 vic. It's, pre -101 and had no built in meter . So I had to use a handheld, reflective meter . And that did take interchangeable lenses. I was into a whole new world . And I love my Minolta. I took some wonderful pictures with it. And then the focal plane shutter broke . Damn it all .

But by then I was making a good income at work. And I went out and purchased myself a, used, Nicon F2. 105 mm portrait lense . 35-135 MM zoom . Along with its, F -1.4, 50 MM standard lense . A wad of filters. And away I went. I ended up owning a couple more, Nicon 's. Loved them.

I recently, gave my camera and lens collection. To a younger friend and business associate of mine. I paid it forward . As was also done for me. As taking still photographs . I find very Zen . Movie and moving images, not so much. Well the picture is clear. My mind is mostly, a blur . But not with still photography. Where every image is very mindful. It's not just point and shoot . But the subject matter of the photo. Not the same with video. As I do both . And the way I shoot video. Much different from still, photography.

Later I ended up with, a nice background. Infinite cyclorama . A batch of strobe lights. Bounce umbrellas. Strobe light meters . And I started doing, publicity photos for performers. I got pretty good with it. I was doing it all mostly in black and white. And having it custom processed. At a lab I worked with. I can also print my own photos at home. I frequently developed my own film. Except for the specialty color films. Of which I tried just about everything. Including, both black and white and color infrared film. Using different colored filters in front of the lens. Using different colored filters . I got, wild looking results with color infrared film. When Kodak still made the stuff. The high speed black and white infrared film. Was even more bizarre and fabulous to use. Like taking a picture on a foggy day. Where you can see anything. And upon developing the black and white in for a picture. You look into picture and say… What is this? Because you never saw it that way. And I caught a seagull, mid flight right in front of me. I could not see. It was so foggy out . And the black and white infrared film. Just cut through, all the fog . It was cool .

So throughout the 1970s and 1980s. I had a lot of fun. Playing with many different types of film. By the different manufacturers, GAF, Agfa, Kodak, Fuji . And the different looking results. From the different manufactures. Was absolutely mind blowing.

I taught myself how to develop and print black and white film when I was 15 years old. And when I got into high school. I took a simple sign selective I knew I could ace . We had a photographer ecorse. And when I got into class. Mr. Sklar looked at the class and asked the question. How many people in here. Know how to develop and print their own film ? I raised my hand. Along with three other kids. And Mr. Sklar said to us… Good. You guys are teaching the class. What ?

Remy take Karen, Michelle, Elizabeth, into the darkroom. And show them how to load the film . Into the developing can . OK .

It was terribly embarrassing. 3 of my classmates. All different Heights. Remy … I can't get the film on it . Okay let me have it. Whoops . Sorry. That wasn't the film . I had grabbed her Boob. She giggled. I wasn't going to let that happen again. Now Michelle needs help with the film. I am going to aim higher . Where is it Michelle? Whoops . That wasn't it . And she giggles. This is getting difficult.

Then Elizabeth can't get the film on the reel. I'm not going to make that mistake again ! And I aim lower. Where is it Elizabeth? Whoops . I know, that was not it .

We finally got all of their film onto the developing reels . And into the light proof can . And I turn on the light. And these three Gorges high school students are looking at me very strangely. They are all looking into my eyes. I had inadvertently grabbed every one of their Boob 's. It was terribly embarrassing. That was not my intention . Not that I didn't enjoy it . There's a first for everything. As that was the only time that ever happened. If and he was serious. Us 4 other kids. Basically taught the class to everybody else. He only gave us the assignments he wanted us to turn in. It was very funny. I had a great time. But he was disappointed I didn't give him better pictures. So he only gave me a, B . Because I actually took pictures. Of what I wanted to take pictures of. Not what he assigned us to. I would just go downtown Baltimore. Walking the streets of my camera during the day. And just took pictures of cool things and people. I got some cool people pictures. One I should have entered into a contest. But didn't . As I found this decrepit old man with a broom. In an entrance to an old store. That was built in the 1930s. And he was largely in shadow. Just standing there. Looking at me. It was a great shot. There was just a street light over him. Lots of hard shadows. It's very, contrasty. And I did it on a thick flat mat, paper . I would shoot most everything in black and white . The only color would be sepia tone . I liked that old fashioned look.

The fun thing about shooting black and white. All black and white film is now, Pan chromatic . Meaning it's sensitive to all colors. But to get that older, 1930s-forties look. You use a blue filter for black and white. And in doing so. Red lipstick looks black . And it will have that, retro look . That looks like I shot it with, Ortho chromatic, old fashioned black and white film. It was only sensitive to blues and greens. Anything red in color, comes out black . And women used to hate that look. They were not wearing black lipstick. It looks too dark. And so?

Back in the 1930s and forties. Still using that Ortho chromatic black and white film. So women's lives did not look black on camera. They had to use, green lipstick. As it would not, black . It would just come out a darker shade of gray . To make them look more normal. And I've seen a couple of color pictures taken, and during those times. The women looked rather garish. They were all wearing green lipstick. And they are trying to do sexy scenes. And kissing scenes. And they're wearing green lipstick. Think how funny that must've been? Kissing a woman on camera with green lips. Because the film was Ortho chromatic. And not Pan chromatic, like modern black and white film.

It was that Ortho chromatic film. You could develop in the darkroom. Under a red light . Because it was not sensitive to red light. You can have a red light on in the darkroom. It's the same with the black and white paper. It's Ortho chromatic. You can have a red light on in the darkroom. And it won't expose or fog, the paper. And they used to be able to do that also with the film. But not anymore. Because its sensitive to all white wavelengths. It has to be in a completely black room. To be handling it, out of the cassette . And so … You really had to try and imitate. Stevie Wonder . In the darkroom. He was always in the darkroom. Even when he was out in the open. He's an amazing person. I get to interview him. Back in 1982. But my interview with Stevie Wonder was interrupted. When, in the middle of our interview with Stevie Wonder. One of his entourage. Bursts into the room with us. Looks at everybody and says… Where's the Engineer and Newscaster from NBC? We said we are right here. And they told us. NBC does call. You have to go now. A jet airliner. Just crashed into the Potomac River. Just blocks away. You are the only crew they have. Closest to the catastrophe. You have to go there now they said.

It was the middle of winter. I wasn't dressed properly. We took a cab to the hotel. From the station. If I had 60 pounds of equipment. Bob was not dressed properly. Bob had no money with him. I only had $20.00 cash. It was a catastrophe outside. We're in the middle of a blizzard. Subfreezing temperatures. 2 dead in the subway. The subway is now closed. The roads are shut down. There's a plane into the Potomac. People are dying. And chaos ensues. And I'm there in the thick of it now. And here's this poor stewardess. She's going to drown and die . And I'm standing on the banks of the river. Along with other people. And we're watching this poor woman. She's going to drown. And if I jump into the Potomac River. I'm going to die trying to save her. I'm sure that's what the other people were thinking standing next to me. When this guy comes running by me and jumps in . We all took a gasp . I thought he was going to die. He saved her. He nearly died saving her. They rescued him also on the other side. After he pulled her to safety. It was the biggest catastrophe I have ever seen. I was the only live human beings standing on the 14th street bridge. Around midnight. Looking down at the river. With the ice be forming over sums silver looking metal. Of the plane under water.

(More Bad Pictures in following post )

[tassadar]

Love hearing about the experience of shooting in the 60s. Thanks for sharing.

[tomjanowski]

I loved Kodachrome 25 and 64, though I preferred 25. I once shot fireworks on 25 handheld.

[jmguitarnavy]

I'm 22 and I'm the only person I know who still shoots film (pretty much 90% of the pictures I take), but watching this encourages me to keep going. Fantastic video!

[mikefreelandphoto]

I just absolutely loved every minute of this. Probably one of my favorite YouTube videos that I’ve seen in the last couple of years and I’ve seen probably thousands regrettably. I hear so many people talk on and on about cameras and film but from the very first second I knew that this man had a real understanding and experience with the craft and more specifically Kodachrome which is somewhat of a myth nowadays to us young ones who are joining the resurgence. Thank you so much for sharing your stories and experience!❤️📸

[Mysticbard]

This is one of the finest videos I've seen on photography. Simple, intelligent and aesthetically on point.

[robertmchugh]

Kodachrome was a good film. I used it for years. A little on the warm side, but nice. Good color, that can last, and last.

[Teslien]

Great photos capturing a moment of time with a great story of your journey in film. I hope they bring back kodachrome.

[pembridgehouse]

Thank you. I started photography with Kodachrome 25. I wasn't as good as you but after a while I learnt what it was all about. cheers geoff

[nvcw]

My best photography was accomplished with the use of Kodachrome 25 film. IMHO, nothing else compares.

[bartvandevenne]

Such a beautiful video on such a great film, how I love the colors...since a couple of weeks I started to use filmrecipes on my fijifilm camera's. I'm sure I won't get the same results as on your photographs but everything near will b already satisfying for me.
I'm really happy I could see this unbelievable color photographs
Thanks.

[toverjames]

Thanks for sharing, Gary. Thoroughly enjoyed the video

[darronfenton]

What a great video. I remember Kodachrome 25. The images were mind blowing. I remember thinking about medium format but Kodachrome 25 in 35mm was more than enough detail. Kodachrome 25 had a resolving power of 200 lines per millimetre. If you do the math, you would need a 138 megapixel digital full frame camera sensor to get the same detail. Lenses are better today and obviously help in resolving more detail, so digital may appear sharper than film. Back in the day most of us could not afford expensive lenses. Put a modern corrected lens on a 35mm film camera and if you could still get Kodachrome 25 I guarantee it would blow the socks off any full frame digital camera. How sad we gave up film for convenience.

[JohnGeorgeJohnCrespo]

5:38 I do the exact same thing. I simply adore candids, and rarely opt for the forced-occasion smile. Presetting aperture and shutter speed is effortless, but the distance marker was my favorite prelude before I raised my eye through the viewfinder and unapologetically snapped the photo I premeditatedly prepared for 10 seconds.

[mikejankowski]

Nice post. I started with an SRT 101 (silver like yours), the 50 f1.7, and Kodachrome 25 and 64. Branched out to many other things over the years. But just that name brings back so many fond memories.

[peterrichards]

I have some 74 year-old Kodachrome family photos which look just as good as the day they were developed. Just amazing to see the 'natural', undisturbed colors from the late 1940s / early 50s.

[Sotangy]

Amazing photos and video Gary. V inspiring Newly subscribed.

[denispelletier]

From 1976 to the end of Kodachrome i had 3 Canon F1 camera main one was K25 and he others one was K64 and K200 and i used many Canon lenses like 24mm f/1.4, 55mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.2 and 300mm f2.8 . I was probably the only photographer using 25 ASA film at the Formula 1 Montreal grand prix but WOW the quality of K25 and EKTAR 25 pictures.
i got tears in my eyes watching this video.Thank you

[cameraman]

Kodachrome is still the standard bearer for colour archival photography, bar none. I shot for a few local magazines in the 80s as well as stock and chromes were the rule of the day. Save for a few publications, Kodachrome images were almost always in demand. K-25 was always a challenge even in great and abundant light, I preferred K-64. Fond memories indeed.