| For film photographers and enthusiasts, there used to be a time when each month would bring news of another of their cherished emulsions getting the death knell. Some of the sentences went, at times, unnoticed. Others made the front pages — the most famous of them being, of course, Kodachrome. The last roll was symbolically used by travel photographer Steve McCurry, his images ending up in Vanity Fair, no less. How things have changed. While a few years ago, film photography was going the way of the dodo, today, it's experiencing a revival, fueled, in large part, by Kodak Alaris. First, it promised to bring back Ektachrome, a favorite of National Geographic photographers in the good old days. Now, Kodak is looking at black-and-white films, announcing the resurrection of the P3200 TMZ emulsion. "It's no secret that we've been looking for opportunities to expand our portfolio" said Dennis Olbrich, president of Kodak Alaris Paper, Photo Chemicals and Film. "Darkroom photography is making a comeback, and B&W Film sales are clearly on a positive trajectory. Given these very encouraging market trends, we believe P3200 TMZ will be a great addition to our lineup." The film "combines high to ultra-high film speeds with finer grain than that of other fast black-and-white films," according to Kodak. It is especially useful for very fast action and dimly lighted scenes. Professional photographers have hipsters to thank for the return of these fan favorites. While digital photography destroyed the film markets in the early 2000s, hipsters' love for all-things retro — from vinyl to the lumberjack beard — re-energized the old film camera market and with it the need for old, forgotten emulsions. — Olivier Laurent In other news this week: World Press Photo invited former White House photographer Pete Souza, igniting a storm of outrage among press photographers. We will have more on this in next week's newsletter. |
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