Here Are Photos Shot on the Rebooted Kodak Ektachrome Film

Oct 18, 2018

When Kodak needed experienced photographers to beta test its new Ektachrome 100 film before it launched, one of the few people it chose was award-winning travel photographer Peter Guttman.

Guttman is the author behind eight hardcover photo books that cover his adventures around the world across all 7 continents and over 240 countries. He spent two weeks shooting on Ektachrome 100 and shared his results through an Instagram takeover on the Kodak Professional account in early September.

“Between assignments abroad, and with only a fortnight to shoot this new film, I quickly realized I’d have to forgo the foreign cultures and exotic landscapes that I often find myself immersed in,” Guttman wrote. “Instead, I followed my inner visual hunger for spectacle and vivid hues, concentrating on some colorful, yet relatively local happenings.

“I hope to convey my excitement about capturing those fleeting moments while painting with light onto a canvas of film. Even to this day, I’ve found film to be my primary means of artistic expression, sidestepping digital photography and embracing grains over pixels.”

The photo above shows the century-old, 200-ton Wonder Wheel along Brooklyn’s oceanfront.

Here are some other photos Guttman captured on Ektachrome 100:

“Here, cotton candy-hued skies are reflected in Rockland, Maine’s calm harbor, speckled with ferries, yachts, yawls and mighty windjammers, such as the red-striped Victory Chimes, America’s largest schooner readying its sailors for a wind blown journey across Penobscot Bay.”

“[I]t’s only natural that beginning photographers are often drawn to the sunsets we’re lucky enough to experience,” Guttman writes. “Sadly, they put their camera away just as soon as the sun disappears. However many of the most lovely lighting conditions only begin to appear after the sun leaves the scene.

“Ektachrome 100 seems to ably take full advantage of this lighting situation as well.”

“Here, amidst rolling meadows of awakening sunflowers, both honeybees and an appreciative visitor examine the huge eyeball-like florets that center helianthus annuus, harvested for seeds and all facing east while tracking the sun’s path.”

“Here, edging a glowing field, smokestacks belch tornados of whirling embers that litter both the Pennsylvania meadow and antique steam-powered grain threshers assembled there for a sawdust-fueled spark show during a summertime threshermen’s reunion.”

“Here, beneath the century-old Williamsburg Bridge, surprised neighborhood residents bask in the coolness of a temporary fog on a sultry afternoon as the setting sun slides over the East River and prepares to descend beyond the buildings of lower Manhattan.”

“Here, windshields and hoods are splashed with dusk’s neon reflections amongst hot rods that choke their parking lot on cruise nights at the Sycamore Drive-In, famed for dispensing curb service along with juicy burgers since 1948.”

You can find more of Guttman’s work on his website and Instagram. Ektachrome 100 is expected to hit store shelves in the US in December 2018 and cost $13 for each 36-exposure roll.

Image credits: Photographs by Peter Guttman and used with permission

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