A Fond Adieu To Kodachrome

I don't think that I would be exaggerating in saying that I probably shot 100 rolls of Kodak Kodachrome in the 40 years that I have had SLR cameras, as well as 400 more of Kodacolor.

So it was with nostalgia-tinged sadness that I read Kodak had ceased production of the high quality color-reversal film it introduced in 1935 at the height of the Great Depression.

Steve McCurry, well know for his 1984 Kodachrome portrait of Sharbat Gula (above), the so-called "Afghan Girl" published on the cover of National Geographic magazine, asked Kodak if he could shoot the last 36-frame roll manufactured.

MCurry had intended to use the last roll on capturing images around New York.

"Then we went to India, where I photographed a tribe that is actually on the verge of extinction. It's actually disappearing, the same way as Kodachrome," he explained.

NG has closely documented the journey of the final roll of Kodachrome manufactured, down to its being processed.