Omaggio alla Kodachrome

In questa pagina raccolgo alcune scansioni di lastre kodachrome 4x5 prodotte da uffici stampa americani durante la seconda guerra mondiale.

Non mi interessa l'aspetto propagandistico di questi scatti, ma solo la stupefacente qualità fotografica.

May 1942.
Langley Field, Virginia. YB-17 bombardment squadron.
"Hitler would like this man to go home and forget about the war.
A good American non-com at the side machine gun of a huge YB-17
bomber is a man who knows his business and works hard at it."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.


October 1942.
"Testing electric wiring at Douglas Aircraft Company. Long Beach, California."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.



April 1943.
Schoolchildren in San Augustine County, Texas.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by John Vachon, Office of War Information.

February 1943.
Working on the horizontal stabilizer of a "Vengeance" dive bomber at the
Consolidated-Vultee plant in Nashville.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

Long Beach, California. October 1942.
"Annette del Sur publicizing salvage campaign in yard of Douglas Aircraft Company."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

October 1942.
Workers installing fixtures and assemblies in the tail section of a B-17F bomber
at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

October 1942.
"Lieutenant 'Mike' Hunter, Army test pilot assigned to Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, California."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

October 1942.
"American mothers and sisters, like these women at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California, give important help in producing dependable planes for their men at the front."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

October 1942.
"Noontime rest for an assembly worker at the Long Beach, Calif., plant of Douglas Aircraft Company. Nacelle parts for a heavy bomber form the background."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

October 1942.
Engine installers at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, California.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

October 1942.
Experimental staff at the North American Aviation plant in Ingle- wood, Calif., observing wind tunnel tests on a model of the B-25 ("Billy Mitchell") bomber.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

October 1942.
Inglewood, California. North American Aviation drill operator in the control surface department assembling horizontal stabilizer section of an airplane.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

October 1942.
Assembling switchboxes on the firewalls of B-25 bombers at North American Aviation's Inglewood, California, factory.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer, Office of War Information.

October 1942.
Inglewood, California. "Young woman employee of North American Aviation working over the landing gear mechanism of a P-51 fighter plane."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

October 1942.
Kansas City, Kansas. "B-25 bomber plane at North American Aviation being hauled along an outdoor assembly line."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

June 1942.
Engine inspector for North American Aviation at Long Beach, California.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

June 1942.
Inglewood, California. "Punching rivet holes in a frame member for a B-25 bomber at North American Aviation."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

Inglewood, California. Riveting team working on the cockpit shell of a C-47 heavy transport at North American Aviation. "The versatile C-47 performs many important tasks for the Army. It ferries men and cargo across the oceans and mountains, tows gliders and brings paratroopers and their equipment to scenes of action."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

June 1942.
Crane operator at Tennessee Valley Authority's Douglas Dam.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the OWI.

June 1942.
Truck driver at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Douglas Dam.
Amazing 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

June 1942.
Army tank driver at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

June 1942.
Fort Knox, Kentucky. "Infantryman with halftrack. A young soldier sights his Garand rifle like an old-timer. He likes the piece for its fine firing qualities and its rugged, dependable mechanism."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

Fort Knox, June 1942.
"Light tank going through water obstacle."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer, Office of War Information.

February 1943.
Lucille Mazurek, age 29, ex-housewife, husband going into the service. Working at the Heil and Co. factory in Milwaukee on blackout lamps to be used on Air Force gasoline trailers.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard R. Hollem for the Office of War Information.

October 1942. Glenview, Illinois.
"Transfusion bottles containing intravenous solution are given final inspection by Grace Kruger, one of many women employees at Baxter Laboratories. When her brother left Baxter to join the Merchant Marine, Miss Kruger, a former life insurance clerk, took his place."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard R. Hollem for the OWI.

October 1942.
Riveter at work on a bomber at the Consolidated Aircraft factory in Fort Worth.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard Hollem.

October 1942.
"Thousands of North American Aviation employees at Inglewood, California, look skyward as the bomber and fighter planes they helped build perform overhead during a lunch period air show. This plant produces the battle-tested B-25 'Billy Mitchell' bomber, used in General Doolittle's raid on Tokyo, and the P-51 'Mustang' fighter plane, which was first brought into prominence by the British raid on Dieppe."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

August 1942.
Corpus Christi, Texas. "After seven years in the Navy, J.D. Estes is considered an old sea salt by his mates at the Naval Air Base."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard Hollem, Office of War Information.

August 1942.
Mechanic Mary Josephine Farley works on a Wright Whirlwind motor in the Corpus Christi, Texas, Naval Air Base assembly and repairs shop.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard R. Hollem.

August 1942.
Corpus Christi, Texas. "Working inside the nose of a PBY, Elmer J. Pace is learning the construction of Navy planes. As a National Youth Administration trainee at the Naval Air Base, he gets practical experience. After about eight weeks, he will go into civil service as a sheet metal worker."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard R. Hollem.

April 1943.
"Mrs. Thelma Cuvage, working in the sand house at the Chicago & North Western R.R. roundhouse at Clinton, Iowa. Her job is to see that sand is sifted and cleaned for use in the locomotives. Mrs. Cuvage's husband works as a guard at the Savanna, Illinois, ordnance plant."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.

March 1943.
"Santa Fe R.R. shops, Albuquerque. Hammering out a drawbar on the steam drop hammer in the blacksmith shop."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.

March 1943.
Yardmaster at Amarillo, Texas, railyard.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano, Office of War Information.

December 1942. A winter afternoon in the North Proviso yardmaster's office, Chicago & North Western Railroad.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

December 1942.
Three West Coast streamliners in the Chicago & North Western yards at Chicago.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

Shulman's Market at N and Union Street SW, Washington.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Louise Rosskam.

June 1942.
Lockheed Vega aircraft plant at Burbank, California. "Hollywood missed a good bet when they overlooked this attractive aircraft worker, who is shown checking electrical sub-assemblies."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by David Bransby for the Office of War Information.

September 1940.
Jack Whinery, Pie Town, New Mexico, homesteader, with his wife and the youngest of his five children in their dirt-floor dugout home. Whinery homesteaded with no cash less than a year ago and does not have much equipment; consequently he and his family farm the slow, hard way, by hand. Main window of their dugout was made from the windshield of the worn-out car which brought this family to Pie Town from West Texas.
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration.

10 commenti:

  1. Impressionante. La qualità fotografica è un vero e proprio cortocircuito temporale. La pellicola è pellicola

    Anto83

    RispondiElimina
  2. La scansione degli originali è di sicuro piu' che buona visto il risultato sul monitor, ma credo che le diapositive originali abbiano una qualità pazzesca!E'impressionante la scala tonale nei colori e la nitidezza delle immagini.Solo questa pellicola era in grado di restituire questi toni di colore e di contrasto cosi' formidabili.Il processo di sviluppo se non ricordo male, aveva una caratteristica particolare la quale rendeva la kodachrome unica per fedeltà nel colore e per l'eccezzionale riproduzione del dettaglio!


    RispondiElimina
  3. Stupefacente , Kodachrome è stata senza dubbio il top . Sono daccordo con Anto83 " La pellicola è pellicola "

    RispondiElimina
  4. La pelle ragazzi... i toni e i dettagli sulla pelle. Mai visto niente del genere.

    RispondiElimina
  5. Veramente stupefacente!
    Immagini di settantacinque anni fa fresche come uscite l'altroieri da una ottima fotocamera digitale, anzi, dopo aver subito anche un buon postprocessing!

    RispondiElimina
  6. è come fare un salto nel passato. Non avevo mai visto fotografie di quell'epoca a colori! è qualcosa di stratosferico, sono foto fantastiche!!!!!!!!!

    RispondiElimina
  7. ...e la macchina del tempo!
    MARKETING suppongo,avrebbero doovuto lasciarla in produzione...

    RispondiElimina
  8. Credo che nessuna pellicola diapositiva eguaglierà mai il Kodachrome. La sua cessazione è una delle più gravi perdite nell'ambito della fotografia all'argento.
    Enzo - Trento

    RispondiElimina
  9. A partire da questi scatti si potrebbe scrivere un trattato di macroeconomia. Senza il digitale non esisterebbe per qualcuno la possibilità di pagare 0,40 centesimi di dollaro per l'utilizzo di una foto, come succede ora con le grandi banche immagini tipo Fotolia e Shutterstock. Dietro a questi scatti pubblicati in questo post c'è molta sapienza tecnica. Sembra strano a molti, oggi anche senza pollice opponibile una aifoto si riesce a produrre. Per fare gli scatti qui sopra invece ci vogliono anni di mestiere. E pensare che ai tempi (ma non negli anni 40, non sono così vecchio eh) si diceva sempre che qualsiasi gorilla (e si diceva proprio gorilla!) era in grado di imparare la tecnica fotografica! A vedere ora questi scatti: macchina 4 x 5 (già a guardare dentro, si vede un bel niente e tutto rovesciato), poi….esposimetro! Quanti oggi sono in grado di usare un esposimetro e bilanciare luce flash e luce ambiente, mi diverto a fare andare nel panico qualche ragazzo ogni tanto:…."toh l'esposimetro, ma come fai la lettura, incidente o riflessa…?" Non è colpa di questi ragazzi, ma vedo che il loro gorilla-glass inizia a sudare….

    RispondiElimina
  10. Ho ora 50 anni e non usavo più l'analogico da quando per lavoro ho preso una digitale, prima usavo sempre Kodachrom 25, ho tirato fuori per mio figlio una scatolina gialla, quella con la scritta (luna di miele) doveva fare un lavoro per scuola (liceo), ho guardato la prima, la seconda la terza e tutte le altre di seguito non so quante volte, 6,7,10 boh. Insomma i colori mi hanno travolto, la definizione mi ha lasciato di stucco, uso una d800 non un catenaccio, ma al confronto è come bicchiere d'acqua a confronto con una coppa di Dom Perignon!

    RispondiElimina

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