In 1974, when I was 20 years old, my college job was at Disneyland. Film photography was in its glory years and I, wanting to record the behind-the-scenes activities of my coworkers and friends, decided to purchase a 35mm SLR.
Being a student, as were all of the other employees, I had little money. But while everyone else was buying Minolta SRT-101s and the like, I bit hard and bought a Nikon F2. Got the 55mm f/1.2 as well, since I worked a lot of night shifts.
After only a few weeks of use I came to the realization that this is what I wanted to do for fun. In fact, I knew then - that very first summer - that this was to be my retirement hobby. I have never waivered from that decision. Kodak has waivered. Fuji has waivered. Agfa has waivered. But I have not.
So I just want to say thanks to Mr. Brierley, Mr. Galley, the other managing directors, and all the employees at Ilford, for that commitment. It's not a guarantee of product availability forever. But it is a guarantee of their desire to provide product availability for the foreseeable future. That means a lot.
Why?
Because if circumstances eventually dictate that individual products must be killed, or black-and-white photography must die entirely, then I know that in Ilford's case it will have been as a last resort, not as a first resort. I know that you are not looking to eventually get out of the business, but rather to stay in it for as long as is possible.
You guys are the reason I continue to pour money into my darkroom, and purchase as much of your product as I can.
Ken
P.S. February 6 in the slideshow below is a photograph made with that same camera and lens I purchased in 1974...
As many around here are porbably tired of me saying, I love Kodak.
