An American Icon…Turns to Dust
I will never forget the sheer amazement that I felt when I joined Kodak in 1971. Rochester’s “Kodak Park” was a beehive of activity with trucks and rail cars streaming in literally all directions and high volume, state of the art consumable manufacturing virtually everywhere you looked. I loved to walk or drive through the “park” as we called it, and watch the frenzied activity at a true, “gold plated” American manufacturing icon.
But, as some would later remark, “Kodak was a franchise that turned into a business…and no one noticed!”
We did some great things there, but the technology and market vision left the company many years ago. I haven’t thought about those early days for many years as I moved on to other companies who chose to embrace the developing digital market.
Today I got a link to a video from an old Kodak colleague…a very sad day and a warning to all who believe that they can unilaterally hold back progress for their own business reasons!
You can find a pretty good version of the video at http://bit.ly/KodakDust. It’s all too bad, but perhaps not, as crumbling buildings in Rochester, NY are perhaps best forgotten as has the powerful franchise created by “you push the button and we do the rest!”
Brownstein & McCabe Associates 
it will be interesting what happens at PMA this year. With Canon opting not to go, PMA as an organization, will have to try hard not to become a corporate Jurassic Park. How do Fuji, EK et al remain relevant in an age of digital file sharing. Most people I know (especially younger) dont print at all.
Scott,
What’s happening with photographers? Well, here in La-LA land, the move to moving images is well underway. The local APA group has been focusing on digital signage and its inherent possibilities. That means motion graphics. Since the footing of photographers is and has been largely print-based, a shrinking market, they have had to expand their notion of image capture and expression.
Now they adopt live video as part-and-parcel of their stock-in-trade. They must be prepared to meet the demands of high resolution graphics arts (print media) as well as digital media’s motion capabilities. Hence you are seeing Canon advertise on TV the HD motion capture of their cameras. Red Digital motion picture cameras are being adopted by photographers to ‘double down’ on their productions: e.g., capture motion and hi-res still graphics simultaneously ( http://www.red.com/ ). The local APA group is sponsoring seminars such as follows:
Secrets of Video Production for Photographers
There has been an explosion of interest in video both by clients and photographers in the last year. Fueled by technology that is making video easier to produce and distribute, a vast new market is being created for photographers with the right skills. ( http://www.apa-la.com ).
Where is still photography going? Everywhere photos, still or moving, can be shown.
Robert
From someone who’s been in the photo market for forever…it’s sad. And ironic. With the boundaries of the photo market expanding exponentially, most of the (old) big players don’t have the vision to capture the opportunities.
Scott,
The video is difficult to watch. I think that we were lucky to be at Kodak during the best of times, certainly moving toward the worst of times. Once the vision was lost, or maybe never captured it was all over but the counting. I for one enjoyed my years there and certainly learned many things that have proven to be useful over my career and life.
Roger
Thanks Scott. I hadn’t seen this video until today. I started at Kodak in 1970, following in the footsteps of my father and grandfather. I stayed for 26 years, working in every one of those buildings in the video and several others that have been sold or simply abandoned. Today I drive by empty parking lots of broken pavement reclaimed by weeds and grass. I think most of us could see it coming, starting in the late 70’s and through the 80’s, but none of us were able to convince anyone in management. Ignoring, surpressing and failing to embrace a vision for the future in the face of advancing technology eventually leads to failure. Sadly, those of us who were there know that they could have been the leader.
I was one of the invited spectators for those final moments of the Kodak of old. Kodak had a lot of knowledge that could have helped the consumer move more easily into the era of digital photography, preserving the precious memories that make up all of our lives, but the HP crowd that came in last did not show any interest in that. Fuji has done much better, but not perfect, but then again, which corporate entity is perfect.
I, too, was lucky enough to join Kodak during it’s dominant, paternalistic, leadership days (1975). I was part of a wave of hires in advance of their entry into instant photography (“Colorburst” cameras and PR10 film). That $2B R&D investment went up in smoke in Massachusetts courtrooms when Polaroid successfully defended its patent portfolio and Kodak had to withdraw. That was followed by a seemingly endless series of disappointing product launches and abysmal strategic decisions even as Fujifilm ramped up its U.S. efforts and nipped away at Kodak share and margins in their core business. The advent of digital presented an unprecedented opportunity for Kodak to regain its leadership and redefine the end-user memory-making and preservation business. Not to happen. Every opportunity that seems so clear to many was missed by Kodak leadership and it’s hard to see any evidence of the once great American company.