Colorama Exhibit

[Lou]

Yesterday, I visited the George Eastman House to see the Colorama exhibit. I really enjoyed it and encourage others - especially those who may have worked at Kodak - to check it out. Many of the sample photographs were ones that I remember seeing in various Kodak buildings when I worked there. I think Building 28 still may display Colorama prints in the lobby.

If you're not familiar with it, Colorama was a display in Grand Central Station in NY that consisted of huge 18' by 60' photographic transparencies on a giant light board. The Kodak photographers were outstanding and included some very well known experts, such as Ansel Adams. Norman Rockwell was also a contributing artist. There's some detail on Colorama on the Kodak website

One of the most famous Coloramas that you may remember was of 15 babies, highlighted in this video.

I came home inspired from the visit and tried applying the Colorama dimensions to some pictures that I took via a simple 18x60 crop. It was more difficult than I thought, but I managed to get a few shots that I wanted to share. Here's the album:
http://tinyurl.com/36qshmm

If you want to try it, just set your crop dimensions to 18 high and 60 wide and pick a picture that might work with it. C'mon you can do it!

Lou

[jeanne]

Very cool pictures, Lou!  And the Eastman House is a really interesting place.  I went there for a class I was taking and it mentioned in the video bio that George Eastman was an animal lover.  At the end of the class (evening), all these crows congregated in the gardens and along the roof of the house.  It was a pretty neat sight.

[Lynne in New Hampshire]

Beautiful, Lou!!

Lynne in New Hamphshire

[gayle]

Thank you so much for posting this, Lou.  I am sorry that I have not have the privilege of visiting the Eastman House.  As I am a photographer, and so was my husband, we hung out with many West Coast photographers.  It was considered a badge of honor to have a print in the Eastman Collection.  (I do not!)

I have done much work with a panoramic camera the uses 35 mm film so I respond well to this format.  And in the course of 40 years in photography, I have exposed miles of Kodak film!

Thanks again.

Gayle

[Shaky]

The 10:3 aspect ratio of the Colorama is close to the 16:3 aspect ratio of our Rfalconcam banner. Hmmm.... An opportunity for a falcon colorama slide show at the top of every page?

[Lou]

Gayle,
Dana and I have exposed miles of film too. I remember buying 35mm film by the multipacks along with rolls of slide film and B&W film. Employees of Kodak didn't get any discount on film or on processing either. We bought most of our film from the lab where we had our film developed. We did get a break on photographic paper though thru the Kodak Camera Club that we belonged to. As much as I'm nostalgic about those times though, I'd much rather be where we are now in the digital era. It's a lot cheaper!  It's amazing that there is still a 35mm film consumer market - I snapped the below photo with my phone camera as I was standing in line at the grocery checkout (Wegmans). I see that it's $10.99 for a four pack of 24 exposure film  So that's 96 pictures (much less that I shoot now in a week) and it doesn't include the cost to develop the film, which would probably be about $25.

Lou

PS Where can I see some of your work?

Thank you so much for posting this, Lou.  I am sorry that I have not have the privilege of visiting the Eastman House.  As I am a photographer, and so was my husband, we hung out with many West Coast photographers.  It was considered a badge of honor to have a print in the Eastman Collection.  (I do not!)

I have done much work with a panoramic camera the uses 35 mm film so I respond well to this format.  And in the course of 40 years in photography, I have exposed miles of Kodak film!

Thanks again.

Gayle

[Lou]

Wow. That's skinny but sounds like a fun challenge. I'll give it a try!

The 10:3 aspect ratio of the Colorama is close to the 16:3 aspect ratio of our Rfalconcam banner. Hmmm.... An opportunity for a falcon colorama slide show at the top of every page?

[Shaky]

Wow. That's skinny but sounds like a fun challenge. I'll give it a try!

If you leave room for the logo on the right, it's only 13:3.

[Dumpsterkitty]

This reminded me of a picture I had cropped to a "panorama" a while ago-the foreground was an ugly building.  



And while I do love digital-among other things, WAY cheaper than processing a roll of film to find one good shot-I do miss the crispness of Tri-X film.  Digital B&W just isn't the same.

[Lou]

-I do miss the crispness of Tri-X film.  Digital B&W just isn't the same.

I shot a lot of TriX but my favorite B&W film was Agfa Scala. I still have a roll in my fridge.  I'd need to send it to NYC to get it developed though; there are very few labs that process B&W slide film.

Don't know if I agree with you about the crispness of digital vs film though.

Lou

[Dumpsterkitty]

Don't know if I agree with you about the crispness of digital vs film though.

Lou

It might just be me-or my not terribly fancy camera-I'm just not satisfied with anything I've taken in digital B&W.