The Great Yellow Father

It was a profound moving moment when my Dad let me take my first photograph with his Kodak Duaflex camera.

There was only one click left on the 12 exposure roll of film. So, I walked around our fishing camp in Ontario for over an hour, looking for the perfect Kodak moment.  Curiously, looking through the view finder, everything was backwards. Left was Right and Right was Left. It was magical, the picture was at my fingertips on a 2” X 2” window view of the world. My Father introduced me to photography. Kodak ruled that world. And so my relationship with the “ Great Yellow Father “ had begun.

Photography is a human activity driven by technological advances. In the beginning every aspect of the process was manufactured by Kodak. The Master View Camera, Commercial Ektar Lenses, PanX film, Kodachrome Film, Paper, Chemicals, Enlargers, Halftone negatives and printing plates.

Colleagues jokingly referred to Kodak as “ The Great Yellow Father “ in reference to its total domination and vertical integration of the imaging world. Every single product from the Eastman Kodak Brand came in a yellow box with a red logo.

Kodak invented key digital photography technology, including the Bayer Filter image sensor, the heart of nearly all digital cameras today. So, while I no longer shoot Kodachrome in my Nikon camera, I love to take the photographs.

Happy Birthday Dad! Thank you for introducing me to The Great Yellow Father.