Don’t take my Kodachrome away

“I got a Nikon camera
I love to take photographs
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away.”

So sang Paul Simon the summer of 1973. Truth be told, I prefer shooting in black-and-white but that’s a story for another day. Though invented decades earlier, color photographs didn’t become main stream until the 1960s. A few weeks ago I was visiting my parents in Tennessee and my mom brought out an old photo album she had put together for her mother in the 1970s. Almost every photograph was in black-and-white.

“Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors.”

As much as I love black-and-white, though, there’s just something about a color photograph. Maybe because it mirrors what our eyes actually see, maybe because it evokes feelings in us, maybe because the bright colors remind us of our childhood. Regardless the reasons, there’s just something about a color photograph that draws us in.

“They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s
a sunny day.”

This past weekend I was going through some old photographs and came across these I shot of my daughter and her Yorkie, Trevor, about five or so years ago when she was just 14 or 15. I had forgotten I had them. But though I had forgotten they were on my computer, I will never forget those couple of hours that afternoon. I will never forget how we drove all over town searching for some color backdrops for the session. I will never forget how we laughed and joked around. I will never forget being so proud of my daughter and the young woman she was becoming.

And now she is 20 years old with a wonderful daughter of her own. And Trevor is still around, too. I will never forget that afternoon as I was reminded of Paul Simon’s song, and summer, and childhood, and all things good.