Category: overnight notes

Kodak Feared Risk

Posted on Posted in art biz, da net, overnight notesTagged , , , ,

becoming Silos of Silence. The paltry military mindset.

Management became intolerant. They couldn’t take a chance. Even now, those who were in positions of influence, having product control, cannot take a small risk. They rely on the hobby crowd to answer a question of low cost, low bar knowledge.

business is people making choices. they can be courageous, self learners, able and prepared to answer big questions, or — they stumble over the obvious.

“Can a cell phone be used without a phone service?”

A question the nineteen year old sales clerk at Verizon, or Apple could answer — even demonstrate.

“Yes”

who you ask is a source of confirmation error — 

  • ask the phone co
  • maybe the phone maker
  • anonymous strangers on the analog film forum (camera counter in last century)
  • try it…

A company may owe its investors, but it is a result of its employees efforts. Silos of silence; fearing crossing the hallways, those aren’t conducive to growing imagination — the fuel of researchers.


From the 60s up until the mid-70s, it was easy to obtain technical information from deep within Kodak. It would not be unusual that answers come from the desk of an engineer, not from a marketing representative. In 1963, I was able to meet two engineers without effort; even taken on a tour of the coating of Pan Matrix Film. At the end of that meeting I was given the name of those in charge of paper making [mordanting] … No NDA sought.

The fearful employee is a weak one, making decisions based upon avoiding any risk. If the employees at management levels lack imagination, or courage, or resilience, the company will fail; capital will not save it, anymore than oxygen cures cancer.

Taking pride in your military like precision came after the 80s. Those few retired Kodak technicians remained silent, secretive long after any enforceable NDA had expired. Allegiance to the dollar; perhaps they thought they could make money off their knowledge. That didn’t happen; old knowledge is worth  old money– not much

Kodak lost the chemical race to the DuPonts, to the companies like Fujifilm that began calling themselves material sciences companies in the 70s.

Even Kodak’s “other” coating businesses continue failing; the microfilm, as well as the NDT & dental films have closed. The analog bounce has left for the instant Asia.

Japanese corporate culture strives for continuous improvement.. their silence isn’t the silence of secrecy it’s a silence of respect of all the investors if they win till one. They tell all or none ,just like the SEC requires. US culture values insider trading — values it so much, it must be hidden

techday: masking 1964

Posted on Posted in A Symbol Life, art biz, dye transfer, overnight notes, the LabTagged , ,

My first dye was made in 1960. It was on Pan Matrix from a color negative. Probably of my dogs. All these are lost to landfill on a farmside hill in Ohio.

A mask is a cover; it holds back light. At first, it was done fully by hand. Masking and retouching have always seemed like two parts of the same concept to me. Dodging is masking that disappears. Retouching a negative holds back something, which is what a mask does. I learned negative retouching from a Paul Outerbridge book. With an endless need for these skills, automatic masking methods found researchers. The “exposure method” of mask making took hold. That is likely the only method you consider.

The first films are long gone. No lab I ever knew kept originals; the client always wanted them returned. Photographers had files of film originals, but they didn’t get the seps; none of the intermediates were maintained more than a year. Perhaps government agencies could manage the volume of film use, but not the commercial, custom labs. Our volumes were too high. We could barely keep supplies in store. What I do have are notebooks; some quite full, and likely complete. Film, processing, curves, all these are what I call upon as reminder of what things were like.

poor Milpool… don’t take his word.

You can count the sheets of film. 2 principal masks — shortened version was a single mask using a magenta filter. I accidentally discovered, using a blank Color Negative ‘base’ acted as a correction mask. I misunderstood readings on what a color negative ‘orange’ mask achieved, thinking it solved problems for all film — believing it a universal filter, I used it on my early Transparency printing. I began making dyes with the Pan Matrix method. I shot color negative, then made mats with PM. These were my early, teenage years. Explaining my shortcut to an accomplished printer, he patiently explained my error, then suggested I substitute a Magenta Mask, as he handed me a Wratten filter, and pamphlet on the procedure.

There were always good people. Maybe because they made a living doing the work. They had little fear of being knocked from their hobby horse.

Super-XX was used by generalists, not by specialists. My initial films were many, including Super-XX. Even early in my transparency sep skill, I was disappointed with it. Isopan was superior, as was XF Pan. An early reference took me to Tri-X Type B, a very good separation film; it was also used by Eliot Porter, although he was a Super-XX user. After finding Kodak Separation Film types 1 & 2, my separation methods matured.

With color negatives of the late 50s, early 60s, contrast and exposure latitude was poor; matching the Matrices was challenging, requiring manipulation of dyes and matrix developer, even beyond what the instruction sheets told. And, after a few years, since I was printing for others, I had masked the negatives. Often for contrast increase, which meant using direct-dupe material. That could also be used for making distinct tone separation masks– all these things, along with having figured out ‘color coupled’ masking, meant I was getting work from labs. None of them realizing they were working with a teen skipping school.