Sigh !

I was talking to a young photographer the other day and he mentioned he'd never used film. An unbelievable thing for me to hear, of course, but natural enough for someone who's just come into photography. It tied in with a couple of other things. Another photographer I met was telling me how he only used Velvia for his landscapes. It's a transparency (slide) film that delivers gorgeous rich colours. A lot of my Florescence series was shot on it, actually! Made me think back to my 'film' days, when you HAD to get the shots right because there was no easy-peasy checking the camera screen to preview your work. Made it kinda disappointing then, to hear the full story of the Last ever roll of Kodachrome. It's been given to renowned documentary photographer Steve McCurry, who I met in Manchester once. His shots are going to be the subject of a National Geographic programme, but he says he felt the pressure to get the shots right...so he shot it digitally first ! Aw, Steve !!

Looking for a suitable 'slide film' shot to drop in to this story, I found one of my 1970's shots of Northern Ireland. Kids and guns...and today some idiots there bomb a police station. Some things never change!