Building 9 of Toronto's Kodak Factory housed the staff gym, cafeteria, theatre and darkrooms.

When i was exploring the factory last year (all but bld. 9 is gone now), building 9 had been untouched by vandals and this had been a trophy room decorated in images of Olympic athletes. Now it's been totaled by vandals and fire bugs.

The fall in the sale of film and consequential closure of film processing plants across the world frightens me. I shoot film regularly and every year another film bites the dust.... I miss Agfa and Polaroid.

I was reading a photoblog debate about why one should bother with film at all.... call me old school, but if you can't shoot film, how can you be a photographer? Digital may be slick and fast (I shoot it for commercial work). I just think you have to earn a photo.

The digital camera lets you know immediately if you don't know what you're doing, (save file size fuck-ups and the like). If you shoot film, you either know what you're doing or you don't get the shot.

It pains me to see beautiful buildings torn down for generic box structures.

Building 9 is slated to be restored (Why it had to be ruined first is beyond me), but it might be years before it's resored to it's former glory (the entrance stair case is curved and marble).