In those in-between days, before Olive was born, we had a chance to catch up on a few Netflix box sets and films. We drew the curtains, switched the lamps on, and settled in for film nights. One of the ones we discovered is Kodachrome. The write up really spoke to us, and the trailer reeled us in. Have you seen it? It’s about a photographer and his son making a road trip to a photo lab in Kansas during the final days of the development system known as Kodachrome. It’s moving, poignant, and beautifully shot. Straight after the film, I rummaged in the top drawer of the cabinet in our lounge. Mum and Dad had given me a box of slides when they were moving house, and I thought I recognised the branding. Sure enough, they were Kodachrome. Suzi’s Dad gave us a slide duplicator that can be mounted onto our cameras to take photos of slides. It’s something I had on my to do list to complete, the film just acted as a catalyst. Suzi’s Grandad and Dad were, and are ,prolific photograph takers, so Suzi also had a stack of slides that we’d also wanted to look through.
These bright over saturated photos from our formative years were revealed. I’ve seen one from my red bonnet days before, but the others had been waiting patiently in the slide box to be discovered. We loved the everyday feel to Suzi’s family photos, and were baffled by my family seemingly erecting a row of deckchairs by a pile of building rubble!
But I guess this is what we both love about family photography and that these unexpected moments can be discovered years down the line. We love the colours and tone. When we rebranded a couple of years ago, we looked to old film wallets and slide cartridges for inspiration. Our work has that nostalgic feel, and we wanted the brand to reflect that too. In this digital age, we still wanted to hold a hand with the past, so we created our photo wallets for our family clients. Here’s a short film about them.
‘’We’re all so frightened by time, the way it moves on and the way things disappear, but that’s why we’re photographers. We’re preservationists by nature. We take pictures to stop time, to commit moments to eternity. Human nature made tangible.” (from Kodachrome).
If you get a chance, we’d really recommend Kodachrome. And if you have any other suggestions for movies/docs about photography or film, we’d love to hear them! We’re trying to watch a few more inspiring things when Olive allows ;-)
