Well....the report of our death, as Mark Twain once said, has been greatly exaggerated.
I will grant you that the economics of the rise of digital photography have had some pretty profound effects on those of us who still shoot a little silver based film now and again. Eastman Kodak has dropped the manufacture of Ektachrome, for example. Ektachrome was the industry standard for color reversal (slide) film for years and was manufactured in several types all of which had unique applications and characteristics to suit both the application and the photographer's sense of aesthetics. Ektachrome was the backbone of commercial photography, especially product, industrial and architectural photography, for years. Ektachrome joins it's predecessor, Kodachrome, in extinction...heard about many photographers who stockpiled Kodachrome in their refrigerators after Kodak announced that they were killing it off...hope they used their stock up because Kodachrome could only be processed by a proprietary process controlled by - you guessed it - Kodak. I assume that some people may have stockpiled Ektachrome and they will be able to use it because the Ektachrome developing process (E6) continues to be available. I suppose that the main supplier of E6 type film is now Fuji with Fujichrome available in several types to suit the needs of the photographer.
Lately, when I've gone to the camera store (one that is Downtown Chicago's oldest), I've been unable to find Kodak's black and white film developers...they are on "backorder"...so I've been buying Photographer's Formulary pre-packaged D-76 equivalent. Interesting because Photographer's Formulary was a smaller company catering to those who preferred to mix their own photo chemistry from the component chemicals or those interested in experimenting with antique photo processes. They may do well in the future as all silver based photo processes become "antique". I have no doubt that there will be people out there who will not only be mixing their own photo chemistry from scratch but will be making their own film and paper as well...somewhere out there is the photo equivalent of the NRA's Charlton Heston who will say, "You will get my Leica away from me when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers."
And while the eminently collectible Leicas seem to be maintaining their value, a quick search of ebay will find lots and lots of really good photographic equipment going for the proverbial song. If you're one of those folks who shot 35mm and longed to move up to medium format, get thee to ebay....all of those old medium format "tanks" are pretty damn affordable these days. Of course, your equipment has probably depreciated dramatically so any "trade in value" you thought you might have had is shot. Looks like the smart people were the ones who leased those multi-thousand dollar system then turned them in at the end of the lease period and started a new lease on the current state-of-the-art digital stuff. As much as you or I love to have that well tuned, mechanical object that accompanies us on our photographic adventures and always comes through for us, remember that there ARE people out there who don't really give a rat's ass about the equipment and just look at it as a means to make money...it's a pretty romantic notion to feel attached to your cameras and feel like they have individual personalities but I readily admit that I do it...hell, I sometimes find myself talking to the bloody things as if they were people.
The cold, hard reality that we have to face is that the vast majority of photographs, from commercial work to family snapshots, end up on a computer screen. Think about it....had any prints made lately? And if you did, were they printed with chemical processes or on the latest zippity-doo-dah inkjet printer? I recently spoke with someone who expressed the opinion that there was nothing like a good silver gelatin print. I agreed but pointed out that unless it was going to an exhibition or into a serious private collection or a museum, the chances that any image was going to get the deluxe darkroom print treatment were slim to none. The individual I was speaking to was really aghast that I would point that out because it was just so obvious that anything other than a silver gelatin print was crap. Considering that this fella was working behind the darkroom supplies counter at the camera store, I found myself once again agreeing with H.L. Mencken's warning that "There is no point in arguing with someone who's paycheck depends on not being convinced."
But we're still shooting film...how odd. And we're still acquiring old cameras and getting them put in working order...even though we can "instagram" any digital photo so that it looks like it was shot with an old camera. Maybe it's like painting. You can use acrylic colors and pretty much not have to worry about drying times and other technical considerations....or you can paint in oils which demand a lot of knowledge about oils and pigments and preparation of supports and sometimes take weeks to dry between painting sessions. Maybe the discipline is more important than convenience. Maybe the digital is just too damn easy for some of us.
