Dwayne's Photo
| Industry | Film processing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1956 |
| Headquarters | Parsons, Kansas, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Dwayne Steinle (founder) |
| Employees | approx 60 (2010)[1] |
| Website | Dwayne's Photo |
Coordinates: 37°20′12.69″N 95°17′10.36″W / 37.3368583°N 95.2862111°W
Dwayne's Photo is a film processing facility in Parsons, Kansas founded in 1956. It was the last Kodak certified Kodachrome processing facility in the world, until the line was shut down on December 30, 2010 due to lack of developing chemicals.[2][3][4]
History
The company was founded in 1956 by Dwayne Steinle as a small film processing facility, but it quickly expanded to become one of the leading photo processors in the United States. When the use of 8 mm film and its successor Super 8 declined rapidly in the 80s, most facilities closed down. Dwayne's, and some other labs, offers processing for a variety of film types, like 126 film, that are no longer manufactured.[1]
Between 2000 and 2010, the business was affected by the decline in income because of widespread migration to digital photography, and by 2010 it had reduced its staffing levels from 200 to about 60. By that date, digital sales accounted for half the company's revenue.[5]
Dwayne's Photo announced that it would continue processing Kodachrome film, which was no longer manufactured by Kodak, until the end of December 2010. On July 14, 2010, Dwayne's announced[6] that the final roll of Kodachrome manufactured by Kodak was developed for Steve McCurry. The 36 slides will be housed at George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. The last roll of Kodachrome film to be developed was exposed by owner Dwayne Steinle with the last exposed frame being a group shot of the Dwayne's Photo employees. [5] The last days of Kodachrome color processing by Dwayne’s Photo are commemorated in the book Kodachrome – End of the Run: Photographs from the Final Batches, edited by photographers Bill Barrett and Susan Hacker Stang with introductory essays by famed Time Magazine worldwide pictures editor Arnold Drapkin and Dwayne’s Photo vice president Grant Steinle. The book presents a year of pictures shot by Webster University photography students on more than 100 rolls of by-then rare Kodachrome film and processed by Dwayne’s on the very last day, January 18, 2011, before processing chemicals were used up forever.[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Our History". Dwayne's Photo. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ↑ "Kodak Retires KODACHROME Film; Celebrates Life of Oldest Film Icon in its Portfolio". Kodak. June 22, 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ↑ "Dwayne's Photo, Parsons Kansas, The Last Lab to Process Kodachrome". Wichita Eagle. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ↑ "End of an Era: Kodak to discontinue Kodachrome 64". Photo.net. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Sulzberger, A. G. (29 December 2010). "For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Last Kodachrome roll processed in Parsons". The Wichita Eagle. 2010-07-14. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
- ↑ See Susan Stang’s detailed description of the Kodachrome collaboration between Dwayne's Photo and Webster University in Bill Barrett and Susan Hacker Stang (editors), Kodachrome – End of the Run: Photographs from the Final Batches (St. Louis, Webster University Press, 2011), pages 2-10.