A lament for the good ‘ol days of Eastman Kodak

Perceptions by Gerry Warner

Jan. 20, 2012

How many of you remember your first camera? If you’re over 30, virtually all of you would have owned a film camera and at least 90 per cent of you would have been using Kodak film and many of you would have been shooting with a Kodak camera.

Not anymore!

Thursday this week Eastman Kodak company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, ending one of the most storied ventures in the history of U.S. business and a story that has virtually touched us all. Many of the 27,000 Kodak employees laid off in recent years must be wondering how to make a happy “Kodak Moment” out of this. Fate has dealt them a harsh blow as the digital juggernaut has moved on leaving more victims in its wake.

A few years ago, I remember hearing a story that when Kodak began to restructure its operations it demolished one of the no longer needed film buildings at its Rochester factory. As the giant wrecking ball began to swing knocking bricks and mortar flying, many Kodak employees were out on the street snapping pictures with their digital cameras, of course. And who says irony is dead?

My first camera was a Kodak Brownie. It’s still sitting on a shelf across from me in my home office in a small camera collection that goes back to the days of those old, fold-out accordion style cameras that my grandfather used. One thing that you could say for the old Kodak Brownie is that it was simple, the very epitome of “point and shoot.” No F-stops to worry about, no zoom, no depth of field, just point, press the button and shoot.

Those were the days. And those old Brownies amply illustrated one of the most solid dictums of photography – “F8--125 and be there.” Or at least that’s how Dan Mills, one of my old colleagues at the Townsman once put it to me and he’s right because a F8 depth of field setting and a 125^th of a second shutter speed will cover about 90 per cent of the picture situations most amateur photographers will encounter.

In other words, you don’t have to be Ansel Adams, or Brian Clarkson for that matter, to get great pictures. The important thing is “to be there.” The “be there” might be near dusk on a cold winter day like we’re now having with your camera pointed at Mt. Fisher and the Steeples just as the alpen glow turns the peaks into a reddish gold. Or as happened to me last summer in the Rockies northeast of Radium when I rounded a corner of the trail and came face-to-face with a young Grizzly standing on its hind feet starring in my direction with the sun at his back lighting up the silver hairs on his spine and the brown tufts of fur around his ears. And me, the great backwoods photographer, for some inexplicable reason had my camera stuck safely in my pack. It could have been a National Geographic picture, but I didn’t get it. However, one of the women in our group did have her camera ready, and even though she felt the trepidation we all felt facing that young griz, she got a shot of Usus Arctos Horrbillis as he slowly settled down on his haunches and sauntered off into the bush. Phew!

But maybe my best camera story concerns the very first SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera I ever owned – a Russian “Zenit,” which cost all of $55 in 1972 and was my first photographic move up from my old Kodak Brownie still sitting on the shelf. I took a lot of ribbing about my trusty, old Zenit, a big clunky thing that wasn’t at all like the sleek Nikons, Pentaxes and Leicas that were flooding the market in those days. But it took good pictures and once when I was on a raft race in the Thompson River and the raft overturned and we all got wet and several cameras were ruined forever.

But not the Zenit! I took it home, wiped it off and stuck it in the oven for about an hour on the lowest setting the oven would produce. Several hours later, I took it out looked it over and decided to press the shutter – kerthunk. Just like it always sounded and its water-tight light meter was working just as before. It’s sitting on the shelf too, and if I could just buy some film for the darn thing, I’d use it again.

But film today is pretty well a thing of the past. Just ask Eastman Kodak.

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Brave or foolish 2012 political predictions?

Perceptions by Gerry Warner

It's that time of the year again when yours truly goes out on the proverbial limb and reveals how much or how little political sagacity he really has with his annual New Year's Political Predictions.

If I'm laughed out of town before the end of 2012 no one can say I didn't ask for it.

Might as well start at the top with U.S. President Barack Obama, who I have to confess has been a huge disappointment for me in his first three years, especially on the foreign policy front, where you would be hard-pressed to squeeze a razor blade between his brutal use of military power abroad and former President George Bush. Obviously as former President – and a great general – Dwight Eisenhower warned, the Military-Industrial Complex calls the shots on American foreign policy and most every other aspect of American life as well.

Consequently, it wouldn't break my heart to see the first black American president denied a second term, but if I had to bet my life on it today, I'd pile my chips on Obama's name for three good reasons – Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.

Romney, a political chameleon if there ever was one, would turn himself inside out to be president, but it's to no avail. He has long since lost his political cred with moderate Republicans for flip-flopping on so many issues like medicare and gay rights and he can never be right wing enough for the social conservatives and Tea Party flat earthers that are the tail wagging the Republican dog. (Or should that be elephant?)

As for the others, Rick Who will be the flavour of the day for about another week before he's forgotten while Dr. Ron Paul, the libertarian Texas congressman, who would be my choice because he's been against most U.S. foreign wars like Iraq and Afghanistan, doesn't stand a chance for that very reason.

Therefore I give Obama a second term and I earnestly hope that he proves me wrong about my feelings about his first term, but somehow I doubt it.

This takes me to my biggest prediction faux pas of 2011 when I insisted that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper would never win a majority. Harper certainly fooled me and he fooled a lot of other political pundits too. Obviously, barring a political catastrophe that I can't imagine, cunning Stephen will still be around for another year although I wouldn't empty my pockets betting on Defence Minister Peter MacKay, especially now that he has such a stunning, new, trophy wife. (Oops! I'm going to get into trouble for that one.)

Then there's the federal NDP, normally not of much interest, but now that they're “Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition” – fooling virtually every pundit in the land, – we must pontificate on their fate and frankly I think it's going to be a perilous one. Let's cut to the quick. On election night, those many months ago, I said the election of the 59 Quebecois as NDP MP's would be the ruination of the NDP and I stand by that prediction.

Why you rightfully ask? The answer is simple. I hate to be cynical but in my opinion Quebec politicians, regardless of political stripe, have one abiding passion – Quebec – and they care very little about the rest of Canada. Consequently the sh-- is going to hit the fan in February at the NDP leadership convention when the NDP old guard, which has had only limited success outside of Quebec, tries to boost its favourite son Brian Topp, who's never held elective office, over Thomas Mulcair, who was the only elected NDP MP in Quebec until the last election and was a MNA in the Quebec National Assembly for 13 years.

Great potential at this convention for blood on the floor.

And a quick note. I think the obituaries for the Federal Liberals are a little premature. Up until now Canadians have only seen Stephen Harper “light” with his string of minority governments. But now that Harper has his long sought after majority, we're going to see Stephen Harper “heavy.” It might not be a pretty sight.

And then, of course, there's the zany world of B.C. politics where you make predictions at your peril. With the Liberals still trying to figure out how to pay for their HST boondoggle and less than united behind their perky new leader, the outlook is decidedly grim. In fact the next election in May 2013 is the NDP's to lose, but as I've said many times before, never underestimate the ability of the B.C. NDP to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

As for the bright spanking new team at the Cranbrook City Council table, I'm expecting an Academy Awards performance. But then again, I may be a little biased.

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