Monday, September 04, 2006


You will probably never recognize the gentleman pictured here at the left. Well, don't worry, few people recognized him when he walked down the streets of Rochester, New York in his own era. Now I might give you a few clues-- say like "Watch the birdie!" or "Smile!" The gentleman you see here is none other than George Eastman who of course founded the Eastman Kodak Company in 1880. Today is the day in history that he obtained his patent for the Kodak. Boy would he be surprised today to see that his beloved photography through film was fading into obscurity. The Kdak company has announced by official letter to photo dealers like my company (Ritz Camera) that they make amateur film only until Christmas of 2010. Only professional film such as Portra 160 and 400 will be made and of course the price will rise dramtically! . After 2014, there will be no film made PERIOD. Crazy and sad, but time marches on. I've been selling films and cameras since 1972 and its hard for me to fathom this as well. Nikon has announceed that it will no longer make any new 35mm cameras. The old ones will continue to be made until the Spring of next year! And Kodak has been booted out of Disneyland-- again! They were booted way back in 1978 by GAF ("the color you see is the color you get") and later by Polaroid. The world of photography is changing greatly. Well another scorching day today-- whwn will it end? Good news, it looks like the price of gas is going below $3.00 a gallon for the first time in ages!

No comments: