The Last Roll of Kodachrome

Goodbye Ol' Friend

kodachrome

The Last Roll Of Kodachrome

The last roll of Kodachrome ever produced by Kodak was given to photographer Steve McCurry. He shot half of the roll in New York City, where his office is located, and the other half in India, where many of his most iconic photographs were made (see below.)

I remember shooting my first images with Kodachrome, film.  I knew that it was expensive (for me at least) so I had to make every shot count.  I think, in retrospect, that that made me a better photographer, because I had to stop and think about the shot I was just about to take and think I did.  

One of the shots that McCurry wanted to get with the last roll of Kodachrome was a portrait of Paul Simon, who wrote and recorded a song by the same name and went to #2 in the Billboards Top 100 songs.  However, Simon refused the offer.  I feel that was very sad.  I think that it would have been very befitting to have a frame of the last roll of film contain an image of the singer that helped bring the film’s name into common usage. 

McCurry’s last frame (below) was taken in a cemetery in Parson, KS, which is the home of Dwayne’s Photo, the last lab to actually process Kodachrome film.

I find it interesting that the last frame of the last roll of Kodachrome would be of a tombstone in the last place to develop it.  

Rest In Peace.