Digital Killed Kodak, But Made Us All Photographers

Reading about Kodak’s financial problems this week brought home to me how the internet and digital media has totally transformed our lives over the last decade or so. The changes in our lives are profound and cannot be undone; the tide has turned for the UK High Street, publishing, insurance and many other sectors – there’s no going back.

The Kodak brand will survive, but will the company itself?

For Kodak fans, those old enough to recall using beautiful slide film like Kodachrome 64, or an Instamatic camera, it truly is the end of an era. The absolute irony in all this of course is that Kodak had the very first digital camera on the market, way back in 1975, but never made that technology the bedrock of their business.

Instead, Kodak were seduced by the chemistry of film, the profits from the commercial printer market and carried on manufacturing disposable cameras and home printers for far too long, when it was obvious that social sharing of photos was replacing an entire way of life for millions of people.

We point our phones, shoot pictures, tweak them using Instagram and publish on Twitter and Facebook – Kodak is nowhere in that process. It is blurring into history, like over-exposed camera film itself.

DIGITAL MEDIA MADE US RETHINK WHAT `WORK’ IS ALL ABOUT

Here’s a short breakdown of how we used to produce photographs for newspapers and magazines when I worked in media back in the 90s;

1. We tried to choose a sunny day and nice location to take photos of motorbikes
2. A professional photographer was booked – vast expense, plus travel expenses
3. Spend all day composing shots, shooting maybe 10 rolls of slide film
4. Slide films sent to a lab – the `lab’ was often a basement beneath a dingy camera shop
5. Day later we got strips of transparency images
6. Back to office, fire up huge light box and view pics with Mr Magoo sized magnifying glass
7. Argument breaks out amongst editorial staff on which shots to use
8. Use scissors to choose best images, individually wrap slides in bags, send for drum scan
9. Page Designer adds scanned images to text, plus incorrect caption
10. Saved pages sent off to printer, Cromalin proofs back two days later
11. Argument breaks out as to who reversed the image meaning it says `ADNOH’ not ‘HONDA.’
12. Final proofs signed off, magazine goes to print
13. Photos taken some two or three weeks previously finally appear in WH Smiths

Bill Hottinger using a lightbox, the way we used to work in media

That incredible labour-intensive process, which required experienced editors, journos, photographers, camera shop lab geeks, page designers, printers, van drivers and finally an assistant in a newsagents to sell the magazine, is rapidly vanishing – or gone. Seen many camera shops, or job vacancies for journalists lately?

We are all bloggers now with spelling and grammar apps to correct any mistakes, or Smartphone photographers with Photoshop Lite, Instagram or Pinterest to edit our pictures. We publish our content for free via social media, instead of selling it. Companies sponsor blogs and product reviews, instead of bribing journalists with freebies and alcohol-fuelled product launch parties.

Things are still changing fast; surely it’s only a matter of time until a Magazine Editor app allows us to publish our own monthly or weekly titles, packed with slick photos and short video clips, then sell them for 99p, with Amazon, Google or Facebook taking a cut of that revenue?

That day will come and when it does, that spells the end of the newsagent, along with a huge part of the existing `paper’ newspaper and magazine industry. Kodak isn’t the only media giant staring down the barrel of bankruptcy, it’s just that some publishers don’t have the vision to see what’s hurtling towards them on the social media horizon.

Our whole idea of what publishing is, what photography is, and how people `work’ within those industries will continue to change, as the pace of social media technology quickens and our digital lives evolve. Nobody is immune from these changes, so brace yourself; it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

AW

Twittering on @npointsocial

Decline of the High Street needs radical thinking

Yesterday’s newspapers reported that Mary Portas has suggested our empty High Streets could be filled with market stalls to bring them back to life. Not a bad idea, but if people simply aren’t shopping in a town because they feel it’s an unpleasant place to be, then what’s the point of having 50 market traders setting up pitch?

Shops and the offices above them are clearing out

I spent an hour this afternoon walking around Altrincham in Cheshire. It was frankly grey, dirty and depressing.

Once thriving, Altrincham is now a mix of abandoned offices, bankrupt independent house related businesses and charity shops, with the last remaining big name retailers hanging on grimly until the bitter end. Trouble is, our whole way of life has changed – that isn’t due to a recession, it’s down to technology.

Once M&S, WH Smith and a few big name banks pull out, Altrincham will be finished, at least as far as shopping goes. In terms of office space, it’s already game over – we simply do not work in 9-5.30pm`office jobs’ in large numbers any longer…at least not outside of London.

Online retail, the rise of home working, outsourced freelance consultants and `destination shopping’ via Malls, has all but killed off the traditional High Street in Britain – it’s time for some radical ideas.

MAKE OUR TOWNS SAFE, CLEAN AND UNIQUE

It sounds obvious, but so many small towns are woefully neglected. The councils basically took all the business rates in the good times and used them to gamble their pension funds in Iceland. The country I mean, not the frozen food retailer. If small towns have pleasant `quarters’ where traffic is minimal and people feel safe to wander, stop and chat, sit on the pavement and have a coffee etc that would be a start. Fix the pavement first though…

Next up, we need to offer rent protected retail space in `quarters’ where food shoppers, vinyl record collectors, shoe lovers, vintage clothing buyers, or someone who needs their computer fixed can find a cluster of vibrant, small businesses. Councils can support such businesses with `fairs’ or themed festivals four or five times a year as well – use social media to bring a buzz, some excitement to the town itself.

We need a law that protects small towns from the invasion of the charity shops – they need to make up no more than 10% of the retail space on any given street. Independent bookshops, music, clothing, shoe and other retailers cannot compete with charity shops – and we need small traders to revive small towns. Big business will never do it, charities simply soak up the budget shopper revenues – that has to change.

On the same lines, small cafes and independent restaurants should be paying 50% of the business rates of the big brand food chains. The chains have the advantage of buying food in bulk and outsourcing everything from accounts to HR, so let’s level the food business playing field. Anyone selling food which is produced locally – within 10 miles – gets a further 10% off. That encourages local farmers to sell their produce locally.

BRING THE PEOPLE BACK INTO OUR TOWNS

Much of the abandoned office space in small towns should be converted into low cost housing. You could even convert many old fashioned Victorian pubs into very nice flats. There is plenty of housing demand, so we should offer interest free loans to those who can find 10K to invest in refurbishing or converting an office into a flat.

Very few people can save up 30-50K for a deposit on a house, but 10K is achievable. In the same way that credit unions offer loans to those who save, councils could offer `housing unions’ similar support as part of their local regeneration plans.

If you give people a chance to create a decent home from what is basically sound, but neglected office/shop stock, for an affordable price, they will come. They will build it.

Britain's pubs are closing as our lifestyles change forever

Finally, promote your unique small town identity. If the area has a history tell that story, promote festivals, make something happen. Use Foursquare, Facebook and Groupon to offer people real incentives to physically `check in’ to your High Street – embrace the internet, don’t fight it.

Small towns cannot compete with the Trafford Centres or Westfields. Neither can they halt the inevitable rise of online retailing. To survive they have to offer more than just `distress’ shopping experiences and the chance of a £60 parking fine.

It’s time to rebuild our towns and make them interesting, friendly places to live and work in once again. It’s going to be a long,  slow process, but if politicians can stop squabbling over the last few million in business rates and think laterally, there’s a glimmer of hope.

Agree, disagree or got an idea to revive your town? Post your comments or tweet me @npointsocial