Sad days for fans of Kodak

I'm sure you've heard by now that Kodak has filed for bankruptcy. This makes me sad, as I (and perhaps most of you) would not be into photography if not for Kodak. My first camera was a Brownie that my mom had picked up at a rummage sale.

I don't even remember what I took pictures of. Cats, probably. But it introduced me to the wonderful world of taking pictures, from which I have derived considerable pleasure since.

My next camera was the 110, the slim pocket camera that used film cartridges and flash cubes. Remember flash cubes?

(Mine was black, but I couldn't find a good image of the black model)

That camera went to camp with me, where my friend Margie and I took pictures of each other taking pictures of each other. We were ten.

I wonder if she still has the picture of me?

I had other cameras in my 'teens and twenties, some of them Kodak, some not. The next camera that changed my life was the EasyShare I bought so I could upload pictures of items I was selling on eBay.

When I had the bright idea to take it with me on my rambles about town, my photographic life took off. I got an account on Flickr to host pictures for blogging. The nearly instant feedback pushed the learning curve to great heights, and I learned so much just by tooling around the site looking at other peoples' pictures. For an inexpensive little camera, it took pretty good pictures. I even sold a couple that I took with it.

When I bought my current camera, I gave the Kodak to a co-worker who didn't have one to take pictures of her grandchildren. I hope it lives a long and happy life chronicling the lives of those kids.

I also hope Kodak, the company, survives this setback. I used to live in Rochester, the home of Kodak, and they used to be the largest employer in town. It would be really sad to see it disappear.

What are your Kodak memories?