Forget for a moment what this piece means for us as individuals -- whether we're pros or hobbyists -- and think about what the photo essay from the link says about the dislocations -- real, serious, disruptive, bankrupting, community-destroying dislocations -- that the changing of technology wrought.
Now look, there's plenty of blame to go around when it comes to pointing the finger at the misguided and mismanaged behavior of Kodak, but think what Kodak's implosion has done to some major cities and the their citizens. Kodak largely did itself in by doing dumb things with its business. No question.
If this was only about how we twiddle our aperture rings and shutter speed dials and how we many of us now (and ever more of us in the future) manage our image data instead of handling emulsion and silver halides, the photo essay wouldn't be as important as it is. But think about what life must have become for folks in places like Rochester. Just plain awful.
I enjoy my digital and love my film. But really, this story, as told in the link Bill shared with us, isn't just about how we practice our photography. It's about something much bigger. Cultural, societal, economic, global. Now, if that thought doesn't grab you, look 20, 30 years into the future and imagine that we're talking about Apple. That some new, as-yet-unimagined disruptive technology (and marketing) unhorses Apple. If you have trouble imagining that, think about all those folks displaced by this era's disruption.
If you're of at least a certain age, you must remember that grip that Kodak had on us as culture. A real life-changing kind of a grip. And, then, it just vanished. Frightening really to absorb this. The photo essay does a pretty job of capturing that ethos. Think about all those ubiquitous Kodak signs. Where could you go that was civilized, that had a population and some kind of a market and not see a Kodak sign somewhere nearby?
Even for those of us who are enamored with digital and its possibilities (which for all we know may yet surprise us with new wonders), you have to admit that we've lost something by watching film slowly, inexorably slip away. I don't think it will disappear completely, anymore than painting disappeared with the advent of photography.
Anyway, that's what struck me about the piece. Bill, thanks for drawing my attention to it.
By the way, I'm no Luddite. I crave an M9-P and I have an M8. I scan my film and I print on an Epson.