A New Theme and Kodak

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place!

Everyone knows by now that Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Everyone’s analyzed it and declared the giant slain. Based in Rochester, NY since 1880 the leading pioneer in photography seems to be on its last legs.

I grew up with Kodak, as did most of us. Kodak was the first film I shot on, and the first digital camera I had. George Eastman invented roll film and made photography accessible as a hobby! Their Wratten gel filters were a mainstay of photographers for the better part of a century. It’s sad to think of losing one of our greatest champions.

The fact is, even in bankruptcy, Kodak will continue to operate. They apparently have a deal with Citigroup that gives them a little over a year to reorganize their business. This means our oldest photographic friend will be around for some time more.

I have some thoughts on how things might change, while keeping them alive. They were one of the first to charge into digital, and were pretty much a leader in consumer and professional film. If they divest themselves of non-photography ventures and concentrate on creating digital systems that other companies can use in their cameras and gear, while pushing the traditional film and paper side, things can turn around. Another area they probably need to keep going is in the x-ray side. I remember just about every x-ray for broken bones, and other things, involved Kodak x-ray film. Given the push in healthcare, a profit must be sustainable for that part of the company.

It’s sad to see a long time friend to photographers around the world stumble. The thought that we may lose a bastion of photographic innovation and quality is saddening at best. The thought of some minor third world company acquiring the rights to their innovations, and making them without Kodak’s quality and consistency is frightening.

You might want to buy a roll of their film, who knows if they can pull it off. That little yellow box may stir some memories in the future of your early days behind the lens.

This is just my 2 cents, but I’d love to hear what you think. Drop us a note with your thoughts.

On to other business. Given the 3-way tie, with 3 votes being split among 3 themes for the week, I’m going to choose the theme. I’ve decided to go with Say Again...(Do I Have to Repeat Everything?)

It’s an easy theme, kind of… Seriously, though, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get something for this theme. The subject has to be repeating patterns. Colors, lines, shadow, light; patterns that repeat can be a great subject for your images. We’re not looking for the easy ones, for instance, a checkerboard laid out on your coffee table. But you shouldn’t have to go too far a-field to find something scintillating and repetitive. Just no paisley, it’s not 1970!

Here’s hoping everyone gets their shot and has a grand week!

Don’t forget to post any of your images you’d like to see here at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too!