For thirty years, professional photographer Rick Smolan stashed away in his drawer photos that documented the life of a girl who came from a poor South Korean village to the United States at the age of 11.
In bright, vivid pictures, the photos show her dressed in traditional Korean attire as she flew across the Pacific to live with her adoptive parents in the United States. The images later show her as a high school cheerleader, working at a fast food restaurant, and then as an adult - getting married and starting her own family.
Despite the age of his film collection, Smolan - a former Time, Life and National Geographic photographer who created the "Day in the Life" photo books - recently used the pictures to put together a coffee table book. He credits the crispness of the images to the type of film he used: Kodachrome. Any other color film would have needed to be restored, he said.
"I have pictures that I took 25 years ago that look like I shot them today," said Smolan, who works in Sausalito.
Kodachrome's durability and color accuracy are the traits professional and amateur photographers often invoke when they reminisce about the iconic film, which Kodak said last month is being discontinued.
Despite the death of Kodak's most recognizable film product, the announcement wasn't met with the outrage and protests that greeted the end of the Polaroid instant camera last year. In fact, Kodachrome fans worldwide received the news with resigned acceptance. For some, it was an event a long time coming in the digital age...
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