Picture Of The Week

About the picture of the week:

I seriously thought about my photography after Kodak announced that Kodachrome 64 was being discontinued. I started seriously photographing in 1998 with a Canon AE-1 Program using colour negative films but I started shooting slides in 2000. After shooting four successful test films of Fujichrome Sensia II 100, I tried out two rolls of Elite Chrome 100 that I didn't like as much as the Fuji, I decided to switch to Kodachrome 64 to photograph the opening of the 510 Harbourfront streetcar line in Toronto. I've used Kodachrome in the three speeds that were available before 25 and 200 were discontinued as my main film since then, with the occasional roll of E6 or Agfa Scala thrown into the mix. Since Kodachrome 64 has been discontinued, ending Kodachrome as a film completely, I've been spending some time thinking about the photography I've done over the last nine years and where I want to take it from here since shooting film is getting harder but I'm not interested in going digital. In the meantime, I've decided to scan and show some of my favourite pictures.

July 27: This picture was taken on Kodachrome 64 on the first day I started shooting it, August 21, 2000 during the 509 Harbourfront streetcar line's opening ceremonies. After the ceremonies ended, there was a private streetcar charter in the evening. Existing light photography has been something I've enjoyed since I shot a print of the TTC's other PCC streetcar underground the year before with unexpectedly pleasant results. 4549's in the Woleseley loop on this warm summer evening. The tops of the Scotia Plaza and First Canadian Place can be seen above the roof of the house in the dusk sky. The brightness of the warm lights inside the streetcar and the person standing behind it whose camera flash went off as he took a picture while I took this one made it clear that the last light of day remaining in the sky was vanishing quickly as night came. It's hard to believe that warm summer night that we all enjoyed riding around on the old streetcar was almost a decade ago.

(C) 2009 Robert A. King