Kodachrome Fall

Even the dreaded Blackberry leaves can be colorful!

If you started out in photography during the "old days" of film, you'll know exactly what I mean by Kodachrome. For years it was the unmatched epitome of high quality, rich, warm, color transparency film. I still have hundreds of Kodachrome slides up in the closet, waiting to be scanned for posterity or doomed to a dark box in the back of the closet until the next time we move!

The stuff was even immortalized by Paul Simon's famous song "Kodachrome." The song is not one of my favorites, but the lyrics went on about how color is better than non-color, and repeated the line, "mama, don't take my Kodachrome away" many, many times. Well, as we all know, it did eventually get taken away by digital cameras and phones. It had a good run though, starting in 1935 and ending in 2010. Although, I noticed you can still buy the stuff on Amazon. Not sure about processing though.

But this post is more about the colors of Fall and how great they looked with Kodachrome. The reds and blues in particular were strong and vibrant. It was the primary film used by National Geographic Magazine and movie makers alike, because of its great color, wide dynamic range, fine grain, and long shelf life, both before and after exposure.

So, this post is a tip of the virtual hat to those former days of  the legendary slide film, as well as a celebration of the beauty of nature's color palette. All of these photos are of course digital, taken recently, and near home, for the most part. You can mouse-over the photos for leaf names. Enjoy!