Steve McCurry after Kodachrome: "I don't use film anymore"

PKM-25 · Jun 18, 2013

Worrying and whining does not a film photo make...
Not making film photos will add to the potential in the reduction of film....
Posting threads about film's said demise or ones that even worry about it will surely help it lose traction on the google search addicted internet......

"Get busy Living or get busy Dying"...Morgan Freeman in the "Shawshank Redemption".

Dinesh · Jun 18, 2013

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
..... What he did ? He found a 40 dollars autofocus Nikon camera and finished it. I think We must not get him serious.

Are you implying that imagery that speaks to it's viewer cannot be attained by using a "40 dollars autofocus Nikon camera"?

Dinesh · Jun 18, 2013

PKM-25 said:
"Get busy Living or get busy Dying"...Morgan Freeman in the "Shawshank Redemption".

He also said ""Clap on, clap off the Clapper".... Morgan Freeman in "Bruce Almighty".

ntenny · Jun 18, 2013

PKM-25 said:
Eastman Kodak Co. chose Steve McCurry to shoot the last roll of Kodachrome that was manufactured. He shot it in a $2,449.00 Nikon F6 along with a D700 to check lighting until it was absolutely perfect then exposed the film.

I'm kind of disappointed. For the "you push the button, we do the rest" company, one might hope that their high-profile product would end its days in the world of vernacular photography---used the way millions of customers always used it, to take dubiously-focussed snapshots of Aunt Muriel and Uncle Vernon standing beside their new Chrysler.

See, this is why major multinationals don't use me for high-profile marketing campaigns.

-NT

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Jun 18, 2013

He shot it in a $2,449.00 Nikon F6

Is there idiots who pay this amount of money to an japanese camera ?

Are you implying that imagery that speaks to it's viewer cannot be attained by using a "40 dollars autofocus Nikon camera"?

Only I say if american president invites you to a ball at whitehouse , you must spend to suit and codes and traditions.

That mcurry ran to india to shoot another poor indian villager photograph. And americans felt and prayed to their state how advanced and rich they are. This poor man photography of national geographic stinks.

TXFZ1 · Jun 18, 2013

There is a video of him walking around New York taking street photos and of him sitting in front of his light table. What I would give to sit in that room, listening to his stories and looking at his slides. Thanks for sharing the interview.

David

megzdad81 · Jun 18, 2013

What is a facebook?

Richard S. (rich815) · Jun 18, 2013

megzdad81 said:
What is a facebook?

Ha

pbromaghin · Jun 18, 2013

PKM-25 said:
"Get busy Living or get busy Dying"...Morgan Freeman in the "Shawshank Redemption".

Ummm, that was Tim Robbins.

clayne · Jun 18, 2013

Mary Ellen Mark still shoots and prefers film. Her workshops even have the students shooting film and it being developed/printed on location.

TheFlyingCamera · Jun 18, 2013

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
Is there idiots who pay this amount of money to an japanese camera ?

Only I say if american president invites you to a ball at whitehouse , you must spend to suit and codes and traditions.

That mcurry ran to india to shoot another poor indian villager photograph. And americans felt and prayed to their state how advanced and rich they are. This poor man photography of national geographic stinks.

Your capacity for irrational nonsequiturs never ceases to amaze.

Bob Carnie · Jun 18, 2013

Also to note that I believe the woman was from Afganastan.Yes No?

TheFlyingCamera said:
Your capacity for irrational nonsequiturs never ceases to amaze.

StoneNYC · Jun 18, 2013

desertratt said:
I've been taking photographs since 1947 and professionally since before 1960 and I never heard of Steve McCurry so who cares?

He's one of the top photojournalists in the world, you surely recognize the"Afghan Girl" image at least, if you don't I'd be shocked.

~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

Dinesh · Jun 18, 2013

Bob Carnie said:
Also to note that I believe the woman was from Afganastan.Yes No?

Who let you out? Get back to your dungeon!

batwister · Jun 18, 2013

Smart photographers with a sense of posterity shoot Portra for colour, Ilford for black and white. Every other film is a fleeting novelty.

What ya reckon?

removed account4 · Jun 18, 2013

umut -

i know exactly what you mean ..
there are poor people in every corner of the USA
but i guess only 'exotic poor" sells ...
and what is more exotic and filled with contrasts
for western eyes to oogle over than india ...

a few thousand dollars for a japanese camera isn't expensive at all
when you consider the first KODAK was sold it cost 3 month's pay($25) in 1888 ...
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwBlf3AeLRM )
===

if someone is shooting color for posterity, they should abandon color film altogether
and shoot tri-chormes ( black +white + filters )

batwister · Jun 18, 2013

jnanian said:
there are poor people in every corner of the USA
but i guess only 'exotic poor" sells ...
and what is more exotic and filled with contrasts
for western eyes to oogle over than india ...

Well this is why his pictures are seen as 'chocolate box' material, critically, whereas someone like Alec Soth - working closer to home - is photographing both something he and his audience know intimately, which leads to - dare I say it - 'deeper truths'. I feel Soth is very right when he talks about the importance of concentrating on his own culture. In the case of art, I think travel really does narrow the mind. Not to say that McCurry's work isn't beautiful, but I find it difficult to buy into his "foreigners are human too!" conceit.

Muihlinn · Jun 18, 2013

One day my brother-in-law, violinist, told me why I was still using those obsolete film cameras, so I answered him why he wasn't playing an electric violin with a midi controller instead his much loved 2 centuries old one. I use film, that's all about it, I do not need to evangelize anyone about what is sin and what is virtue, and certainly I don't give a shit about what anyone else uses or enjoy, that's up to him/her.

semi-ambivalent · Jun 18, 2013

ntenny said:
I'm kind of disappointed. For the "you push the button, we do the rest" company, one might hope that their high-profile product would end its days in the world of vernacular photography---used the way millions of customers always used it, to take dubiously-focussed snapshots of Aunt Muriel and Uncle Vernon standing beside their new Chrysler.

See, this is why major multinationals don't use me for high-profile marketing campaigns.

-NT

Perhaps you jest but I think you've touched on something there. Kodak's fortunes certainly didn't come from the McCurrys of this world, but from the Aunt Muriels. It's the difference between selling your heritage and respecting it enough to embrace it.

s-a

ntenny · Jun 18, 2013

batwister said:
Well this is why his pictures are seen as 'chocolate box' material, critically, whereas someone like Alec Soth - working closer to home - is photographing both something he and his audience know intimately, which leads to - dare I say it - 'deeper truths'. I feel Soth is very right when he talks about the importance of concentrating on his own culture. In the case of art, I think travel really does narrow the mind. Not to say that McCurry's work isn't beautiful, but I find it difficult to buy into his "foreigners are human too!" conceit.

Well, it varies from photographer to photographer, it seems to me. Werner Bischof seems to me like someone who often did very well at photographing the "deeper truth" rather than the exoticism, for instance.

-NT

ntenny · Jun 18, 2013

(Aunt Muriel)

semi-ambivalent said:
Perhaps you jest but I think you've touched on something there. Kodak's fortunes certainly didn't come from the McCurrys of this world, but from the Aunt Muriels.

I think I was about 60% serious. Of course Kodachrome was in significant measure a pro product, especially after the 1970s when amateur use of slides went way down; in the adult lifetime of anyone younger than about 50, I think, Aunt Muriel would more likely have been on Gold 200 or something like that...

-NT

ambaker · Jun 18, 2013

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
Is there idiots who pay this amount of money to an japanese camera ?

Only I say if american president invites you to a ball at whitehouse , you must spend to suit and codes and traditions.

That mcurry ran to india to shoot another poor indian villager photograph. And americans felt and prayed to their state how advanced and rich they are. This poor man photography of national geographic stinks.

I realize there is a language difference between us. However, many people have paid more than that for cameras from many countries of the world.

That being said, I am not aware of anything that says cameras from Nikon and Canon are substandard.

I believe that either I misunderstand last paragraph, or you misunderstand the people of this country. There are many religions here, as well as those who eschew any religion. We even have people who believe that rocks and crystals have special powers. However I am unaware of any religion that worships the state.

Many here are fortunate to have a good standard of living and access to current technology. That does not make us "better" than anyone else, or any place else. We are all human beings. Where we live does not define us.

Poisson Du Jour · Jun 18, 2013

Interesting answers. I really do think that digital is the way to go for speed alone on the international stage of travel. What irks me is its dependence on a computer. Good for McCurry to have jumped onto the wagon years and years ago and get the most benefit of knowledge and skill from it. Eventually, that's something we'll all be forced to do in the future, like it or not.

clayne · Jun 18, 2013

batwister said:
Smart photographers with a sense of posterity shoot Portra for colour, Ilford for black and white. Every other film is a fleeting novelty.

What ya reckon?

There's many other great choices?

ambaker · Jun 18, 2013

Poisson Du Jour said:
Interesting answers. I really do think that digital is the way to go for speed alone on the international stage of travel. What irks me is its dependence on a computer. Good for McCurry to have jumped onto the wagon years and years ago and get the most benefit of knowledge and skill from it. Eventually, that's something we'll all be forced to do in the future, like it or not.

Ian Ruther might disagree.

http://vimeo.com/39578584

Steve McCurry after Kodachrome: "I don't use film anymore"

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