Lilies and Related Plants - RHS Lily Group

Lilies in kodachrome
Lilium parryi
In this age of digital images Pontus Wallstén recounts the sad demise
of kodachrome, which many camera users considered to be
unparalled in producing the perfect colour photograph .
In June 2009, Kodak announced the end of kodachrome, after over seventy years
in production. Renowned for its sharp, highly saturated colours, and pastel tones,
and used by famous photographers from all around the world, notably for National
Geographic magazine, kodachrome had come to an end.
The fantastic colour rendition and other complex colour layers of the film gave
it unique properties, unequalled by any other colour film ever made. However,
the photographic quality it produced was at a cost. To produce this film was
not cheap, and in recent years, with the arrival of digital photography, film sales
had dropped dramatically, and kodachrome only accounted for a few percent
of Kodak’s sales. Therefore, Kodak decided to cease production of this unique
film. Film was still available in a few specialist camera shops, and later on, from
professional photographers as well as through eBay and other websites. Dwayne’s
Photo in Kansas still processed the film until the end of 2010. This meant that I was
able to use kodachrome for a year and a half before it was totally gone.
To find people who would pose for me in colourful clothes and other similar
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