Alas, Tri-X, my old friend...

OK. It's been coming for years but it's finally official today. Eastman-Kodak Co. has filed for bankruptcy after a decade of declining health for its core products due to the rise of digital image technologies. Ironically, Kodak invented the first digital camera - but shelved it, believing it would hurt film sales. As if you could stuff that toothpaste back in the tube...

 

I, unfortunately, haven't really worked with film in a darkroom for about 5 years or so...and I guess it's people like me who brought this day on. It's a shame really. I miss the darkroom - the smells, the often complex gymnastics of burning here and dodging there, and the little thrill I always got (even after doing it 1000s of times) from tossing a newly exposed print into the developer and seeing the image begin to emerge as if by magic. Hell, I don't currently have a film camera...I do still own an old RB67, though it's been on loan to a friend for awhile now.

But I was always a big fan of their black and white films, especially Tri-X 400 (I loved its subtle grain and its forgiving nature when it came to my usual less-than-disciplined developing practices. It was also really fun to drop it into developers like TMAX, HC-110...other than the usual D-76...to bring out more grain or more contrast) and some color transparency films. But I never did care for the color negative films - maybe it was me but the saturation always seemed....cartoonish...at least when photographing people. I usually got much more pleasing results from the Fuji color negative and positive films.

Not sure what this means for the company's future. I hope they can emerge from bankruptcy and still manage to provide products for that dwindling segment of the photography market that still uses film (mostly the art community, I'd assume). I mean, come on! These people democratized and popularized photography, took it from something huge, heavy, arcane and complicated to something even the average man, woman or child could use!

Good luck, Kodak. May the Tri-X be with you...