Being the last lab in the world processing Kodachrome, there was probably not a single conversation about the film that didn’t mention Dwayne’s Photo. In my search to understand more about Kodachrome and what makes it so special, I wanted to learn more about them, so I sent an inquiry through their website form. Within a few days, I had a response from Office Manager Krystal Smith, who put me in touch with Grant Steinle, V.P. of Operations, who was kind enough to provide a history of the company and Dwayne, himself, and even answer a few of my questions.
Dwayne’s Photo, Parsons, KS
Dwayne Steinle started out with a borrowed enlarger in a second-floor room above a book and camera shop in downtown Parsons, Kansas. That was back in 1956 and his business was one of hundreds of small regional photo labs throughout the United States mainly providing black and white developing and printing services to local drug and camera stores. No stranger to photography, Dwayne grew up with a darkroom in his basement, shot for his high school paper, and even ran a photo lab supply depot in Korea while in the Army during the Korean War, despite being trained for radio work.
By the 1980’s, Dwayne’s business had expanded to specialty photographic processing for other photo labs and, in 1988, became the go-to lab for Wal-Mart. Business continued to grow and slide processing was added to their list of services.
In 1994, and over half a million dollars later, Dwayne’s was developing Kodachrome. The start-up wasn’t an easy one and required an analytical laboratory and, because Kodachrome chemistry had to be mixed from scratch from individual components, a chemist to do analysis on the processing solutions. Additional space was required for mixing and bulk storage, and specialized equipment was necessary for all of it - but, it was worth it. By 1996, forty years after he started in a room above a small shop, his business had grown from Dwayne to Dwayne’s Photo: 165 employees in a 40,000 square-foot production facility. If you had film developed in the 1990’s, chances are, that film was processed by Dwayne’s Photo.
By 2006, after a steady decline in film processing in the wake of the digital revolution, only three labs were left processing Kodachrome film: Kodak labs in New Jersey and Switzerland, and Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas. Kodak withdrew from the processing business in 2007 and closed their Swiss lab, leaving Dwayne’s as the go-to processor for all things Kodachrome - until 2009 when Kodak announced the retirement of Kodachrome, which also meant that the dye couplers necessary to process the film would also end production, leaving a finite amount available for use.
Dwayne’s Photo stopped accepting rolls of Kodachrome for processing at noon, Parsons, Kansas time, December 30, 2010. If your Kodachrome wasn’t shot and in their facility by that cut-off, well, you were probably a little sad that day.
But, that didn’t mean their processors stopped that day. In fact, the last roll of Kodachrome passed through the chemistry nineteen days later, on January 18th, 2011 - the roll was shot by Dwayne Steinle, himself.
Kodachrome Processing Line, Dwayne’s Photo, Parsons, KS
How many rolls of Kodachrome has Dwayne's developed?
Grant Steinle: From December 26, 2010 to the end of processing on January 18, 2011, we processed over 20,000 rolls of 35mm slide film, over 3,500 rolls of Super 8 movie film and about 57,000 feet of 16mm movie film. That is about the same volume we did in the first 4 to 5 months of 2010.
Kodachrome Processing Line, Dwayne’s Photo, Parsons, KS
How intensive is the Kodachrome developing process? For example, how many steps are involved, how many different solutions does it require, and how long does the process take from start to finish? Is the process automated or does it require handling along the way?
Grant: The Kodachrome development process has 14 steps. It is very complicated and highly automated. We splice 100 individual customer rolls of 35mm film into a master roll to run on the film processor. We put the film on at the load end of the processor and it runs through the machine. The main steps are rem jet bath (the back of Kodachrome film is coated in a black, carbon material called rem jet (the anti-halation layer that must be removed before the film can be developed), rem jet buffer, first developer, cyan re-exposure printer, cyan developer, yellow re-exposure printer, yellow developer, magenta developer, bleach, fix, final wash, dryer. There is also a wash step after each developer. The film processor runs at 32 feet per minute. From the time you put film on at the load end to when it comes off at the take up takes about 45 minutes.
Kodachrome Processing Line, Dwayne’s Photo, Parsons, KS
What is unique about the Kodachrome process? I understand that the dye is added during developing, which combines with the couplers present in the film, but that's where my extent of knowledge ends.
Grant: Kodachrome is unique because it was the first widely available color film (first introduced in 1935). It is also unique because it is the only color film where the dyes that make up the image are not present in the film when it is manufactured. Kodachrome is essentially a black and white film when it leaves the factory. During the development process, the dye couplers in the three color developers form dye around the sights of exposed silver halide in the appropriate emulsion layers. The fact that there are no unused dye couplers left in the film gave Kodachrome its unique archival keeping capabilities. If stored in the dark, it was the longest lasting of all color films.
Kodachrome Processing Line, Dwayne’s Photo, Parsons, KS
Kodachrome was a well-used film among professionals, including National Geographic photographers. Are there any memorable photos or photographers with which Dwayne's has worked?
Grant: The most recent one was with Steve McCurry, the photographer who took the famous cover of the Afghan Girl for National Geographic. Kodak gave him the last roll of Kodachrome film manufactured and he was here in July to get it developed. He had take pictures all around the world (New York, India, Istanbul, even a couple here in Parsons, KS) and it was very exciting to see the images he had captured. My favorites were of members of a nomadic tribe in India. His adventure with the last roll of Kodachrome [ever produced] will be showcased in a program on the National Geographic channel sometime this year.
Dwayne Steinle, Founder & Grant Steinle, V.P. Operations
For a preview of Steve McCurry’s photos, check out this NPR slideshow. Many fantastic projects have been born from Kodachrome and even more since the announcement of its retirement including photographer Daniel Bayer’s The Kodachrome Project and blog, so be sure to check that out, too - he worked with Dwayne’s Photo for several years and documented his last shots of Kodachrome, and the lab, on his blog.
Next week, I will conclude this series with an interview with Dave C., the photographer who offered up his found Kodachrome inventory for free on Flickr, along with some of my own Kodachrome photos, which were delivered last week.
Thanks for sharing this piece, Angela! I really didn't have any idea about just how complicated the process was. Now I understand why I have heard that it's possible to process this film as black and white. I really enjoyed the photos of the behind the scenes magic! My last 8 rolls are coming in next week!
Dave C in Maine
Posted by: David C | Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 12:36 PM