The family photographs have come to me now that Mom’s gone. I found this Christmas, 1952, portrait of my grandfather among them. I did some restoration work in Photoshop on it — the print itself has turned brown.
My grandfather is said to have been a fashionable man in his day. I wonder what kind of camera made this photograph? What other than a TLR would have made a square photograph in 1952?
What’s fascinating to me as a film photographer is what’s on the back of this print.
Kodak made its original Kodacolor film from 1942 to 1963. Until 1955, when you bought a roll of Kodacolor, it came with processing and printing from Kodak. Nobody but Kodak could develop Kodacolor film! The United States sued on antitrust grounds, given that Kodak claimed more than 90 percent of the color photofinishing market. Kodak was found to be in violation of the Sherman Act, and the government forced Kodak to sell its Kodacolor processing chemicals to other photofinishers.
I wonder what this print looked like when it was fresh!
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