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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-06-22 Daily Xml
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PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:24): Today my remarks will reflect on the demise of photographic film and the rise of new technologies. Over the past 12 months or so, buying film has become more difficult, and now my local, the Clovercrest Photo Shop across the road from the Florey electorate office, has closed, a victim of competition from the big stores that so many small businesses cannot sustain and new technology. Photo terminals have popped up in chain stores and led to changes in customer habits and turnover volume.

My love of photography came early in life and fills much space in my office and home. Many here will know that I have been taking large numbers of photos for my entire parliamentary life, chronicling the history of my duties in my electorate and the state, my party and, of course, this place. For 12 of those 14 years, Sue and Kevin Henderson have sold me cameras, film and batteries and developed and reprinted all my photographs. They are wonderful people for whom nothing was too much trouble, and they will be missed by many in the Modbury area.

They diversified their business into framing, scrapbooking and much more, but it was too hard to compete with the big chains who can provide photos now for 10¢ a copy. Prior to Sue and Kevin, I used Kodak and then Smith's after a rebadging of the store at Tea Tree Plaza, and I owe much to Stephen Burgess, now a friend through the Port Adelaide Caledonian Society, and then, following on from Stephen, Christine Jeffries, now a mum at Good Shepherd Lutheran School not far from our office. She looked after me prior to me switching to the Clovercrest Photo Shop. Interestingly, the Tea Tree Plaza Smith's outlet closed some years ago, when digital cameras first came onto the market.

In a previous life, I had much to do with a video library and watched Beta versus VHS. Despite those in the know saying that Beta was a much better format, it soon vanished—yet another example of how new technologies leave devastation in their wake.

It reminds me also of how things can work in reverse. Thank goodness cinemas still exist, although many now are in multiscreen complexes but, as we will see, the sale of DVDs through stores is having a harsh impact on video libraries, and they too may soon be a victim. Books, of course, are facing the same sort of period of change, and I for one am confident that my inclination will always be for hard copy—again, a habit my staff can attest to—with archiving being one of my favourite undertakings.

But, back to film and cameras, the Eastman Kodak Company marketed the world's first flexible roll of film in 1888. At the turn of the 21st century, shutterbugs around the world were buying close to a billion rolls of film a year; this year, it will be reduced to a mere 20 million rolls. It is thought, based on these figures, that film will have all but disappeared by the end of the decade. I myself fully embraced the lure of instant gratification last month and finally switched to using my digital camera full-time.

Due to film photography's long history of widespread use, there are now around one trillion pictures on photographic film or photographic paper in the world, enough to cover an area of around 10,000 square kilometres or about half the size of Wales, which is where the guru in IT and photography in the Florey electorate office—my wizard, Wendy Herbert—hails from.

Kodak remains the world's biggest film manufacturer, with Japan's Fuji close behind, but the consumer and professional films they make have dwindled to a precious few dozen film stocks in a handful of formats, becoming one more factor in the mammoth drop-off in film processing. Sadly, there are so many digital images taken every day, especially with the new mobile media, that will never be developed or even downloaded into an album, and much will be missed through the loss of sharing of images, and quality will always be another factor.

With the film market shrinking by more than 20 per cent annually, most signs point downhill, but ironically it is film's newest fans—not unlike music aficionados who swear by vinyl records—who are being drawn together by the rise of the internet. The technology that enabled the demise of film is actually helping to keep it relevant with specific types of users. It is prized by advanced amateur photographers and a smattering of professionals who specialise in nature, travel, scientific, documentary, museum, fine art and forensic photography—those who still want to be photographers rather than computer technicians.

Regardless of the type of photography used, there can be no doubt about the power of the image, both still and moving. After the turn of the 20th century and the birth of photos, postcards were in huge supply. Suffragettes used images on postcards as a powerful campaign tool in their fight to win the right to vote, and we are fortunate to have some of their images currently on display here in Centre Hall.

Of course, it was the powerful images of the cruel treatment of Australian cattle in Indonesian abattoirs that caused a massive public outcry resulting in a review of the live cattle industry. Although no-one condones animal cruelty, and we all recognise there must be reforms made in this industry, my heart goes out to all involved who have been affected. I have long been a supporter of Australian food producers and manufacturers, and I have recently produced an updated Australian products guide which was distributed to Florey residents.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Florey, and I understand you are going through a real grieving process about the loss of your film camera.

Ms BEDFORD: I am.

The SPEAKER: I hope this is part of your grieving process. The member for Flinders.

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