Dwayne's Photo is a film processing facility in
Parsons, Kansas founded in 1956. It processes film, slides and certain movie films, and offers photo services.
Dwayne's Photo was the last Kodak certified
Kodachrome
Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years, Kodachrome was widely used ...
processing facility in the world, which stopped accepting rolls of Kodachrome on December 30, 2010, citing Kodak's discontinuation of the necessary developing chemicals.
History
The company was founded in 1956 by Dwayne Steinle as a small film processing facility, but it quickly expanded to become one of the leading photo processors in the United States. When the use of
8 mm film and its successor
Super 8 declined rapidly in the 1980s, most facilities closed down. Dwayne's, and some other labs, process a variety of film types, like
126 film, that are no longer manufactured.
Between 2000 and 2010, the business was affected by the decline in income because of widespread migration to
digital photography, and by 2010 it had reduced its staffing levels from 200 to about 60. By that date, digital sales accounted for half the company's revenue.
Kodachrome
Dwayne's Photo announced that it would continue processing
Kodachrome
Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years, Kodachrome was widely used ...
film, which was no longer manufactured by Kodak, until the end of December 2010.
The last roll was processed on January 18, 2011. On July 14, 2010, Dwayne's announced
that the final roll of Kodachrome manufactured by Kodak was developed for
Steve McCurry. The 36 slides will be housed at
George Eastman House in
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...
. The last roll of Kodachrome film to be developed was exposed by owner Dwayne Steinle with the last exposed frame being a group shot of the Dwayne's Photo employees.
Based upon the 2010 ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' article about this event, in 2017
Mark Raso directed the film ''
Kodachrome
Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years, Kodachrome was widely used ...
''.
The last days of Kodachrome color processing by Dwayne’s Photo are depicted in the book ''Kodachrome – End of the Run: Photographs from the Final Batches'', edited by Bill Barrett and
Susan Hacker Stang. The book includes a year of pictures shot by
Webster University photography students on more than 100 rolls of Kodachrome film and processed by Dwayne's on the last day it was processing it, January 18, 2011, before processing chemicals were used up.
[Kodachrome – End of the Run: Photographs from the Final Batches (St. Louis, Webster University Press, 2011), pages 2-10.]
References
External links
*{{Official website, www.dwaynesphoto.com
Dwayne Steinle passes awayKodachrome (2017) at imdb.com
Manufacturing companies established in 1956
Companies based in Kansas
Buildings and structures in Labette County, Kansas
1956 establishments in Kansas
Photography companies of the United States