Stockland Martel

The Wall Street Journal has done an interesting story on the demise of Kodachrome, which, argues writer Richard B. Woodward, “has given honorable service for so long (since 1935 in movie cameras, since 1936 in 35mm still cameras) that its demise calls for a send-off more ceremonial than just a quote from the Paul Simon lyric.” Woodward interviewed Walter Iooss for the piece because of Iooss’ four-plus decades shooting for Sports Illustrated, which was launched in 1954 “to exploit the emerging potential of color photography,” writes Woodward. “The grain was sensational,” Iooss tells the Journal. “Hands down, it was the best color film of the period, until the ’80s, when Fuji caught up.”

This morning, we emailed Iooss about his Kodachrome work for Sports Illustrated, and he was kind enough to send us a few of his photos from back in the day:

Tony Scott and Garry Templeton of the St. Louis Cardinals in Los Angeles, 1979. Photograph by Walter Iooss.

Hanalei, Kauai, 1976. Photograph by Walter Iooss.

Hanalei, Kauai, 1976. Photograph by Walter Iooss.

Meanwhile, over at The Year in Pictures—the much-loved blog by gallerist James Danziger—there are some more lovely examples of why Kodachrome was so special. This one, taken by Robert Doisneau in Palm Springs, is one of our favorites:

From the blog The Year in Pictures.