Kodachrome film box in 1936
Toronto. 1936, what a great year! Mind you, I wasn’t around back then, but my dad upgraded his picture taking skills to a Kodak Junior Six-20. Kodak had reached the pinnacle of the photographic industry by mid last century – stating in one leaflet that it used the most silver of any company (all photographic processes at the time used silver as a basis for light sensitivity.
Kodak tried to be important to all photographers, making and selling plates, films, papers, chemicals, brochures, booklets, and books. One book was called, “How to Make Good Pictures“. I have a hard cover version that states, “TWENTY-SECOND EDITION, REVISED, 1936“. Not to be out done by the Europeans, Kodak acknowledged the ‘minicam‘ revolution by touting a 35mm still film version of Kodachrome for 35mm cameras and marked on the box as, “KODAK KODACHROME, SAFETY COLOR FILM, DAYLIGHT LOADING, MAGAZINE, FOR RETINA, CONTAX, AND LEICA CAMERAS” This marking placed the European made Retina, recently bought by Kodak first and Leica which kicked off the whole darn revolution, last.
The book generously covers the multiplicity of Kodak cameras and products with a large number of black and white photos and illustrations, some really sound fundamentals of the art and lots of great photographs. Anyone who read and understood the 224 page book received a good grounding in the art (and the importance of using Kodak products).
