US photographer fights to save film

Global campaign against Kodak's decision to halt production of infrared film

14 December 2007 12:08 GMT / By Katie Scott

An American film enthusiast has launched worldwide campaign to save a specialist infrared film.

James C. Williams has started the campaign after Kodak announced it is to discontinue production of HIE-135 infrared film by the end of 2007.

He has told the photography press that he has now emailed hundreds of photographers as well as setting up a campaign website.

In an email to the UK weekly photography magazine Amateur Photographer, he wrote: "This campaign has also become a banner for the need to save films of all types from vanishing."

Williams has also appealed directly to Kodak on the subject:

"Its initial and major commercial purpose has been for scientific and security purposes. However, aside from these mundane applications, a much more visually appealing application is fine-art photography using infrared film."

"Many fine art photographers recognise the great benefits of using film and prefer film to digital. In the case of infrared photography there are many people trying different approaches to using digital cameras, but that system has problems to be solved and the results are not nearly as good as those produced by HIE-135."

He added that the film is unique and hopes to garner support from around the world to encourage Kodak to reverse its decision.