When it comes to photography, I’m still a Neanderthal.
The camera I use is 25 years old.
Of course at that age, it shoots film. Mostly slide film, to be specific.
I’ve been thinking about going digital for years. Several times, I’ve gone into periods of deep research to select just the right camera, only to sit back and wait for something better to come along.
A lot of better cameras have come and gone in that period, cameras with easy controls and images with more than enough sharpness to run in The Herald or other publications. For some reason, I’ve stuck to my film camera.
Until now.
Now being the time that Crown Image of Everett is calling it quits after a long history of processing film and making prints.
As Michelle Dunlop wrote on the front page of Friday’s paper, Crown owner Jim Haugen is closing the three-generation family business after 58 years.
Apparently, everybody else has been thinking about going digital, too, and most people have.
“I could see the writing on the wall,” Haugen told Dunlop.
Rather than try to compete with the Wal-Marts of the world to make prints from digital shots, Haugen has decided to close the business. Wednesday will be the last day.
I’ll miss Crown. Its closure likely will push me into finally buying the digital camera that I’ve been hemming and hawing about.
Those people at Crown were enablers.
Friendly and knowledgeable, they made it easy to continue shooting film. If I needed a digital image from a slide, they could do that for me. If I needed a print, they could do that, too. If I wanted the print tweaked a little bit to look the way I wanted, well, they did that, too.
I always liked talking to Crown employees because they all seemed knowledgeable. And honest.
I remember breezing in one day when I had discovered that I’d lost one of the locking knobs on a tripod leg.
Sure, they could order one, I was told. But they said if I was really in a rush, I could get it more quickly through the maker’s Web site. Most companies would have stopped at the sure, then let me wait three or four weeks.
I always enjoyed buying stuff there because it seemed as though most of the staff members were photographers. It was great just talking about what they’d been out shooting, about how the light was great on this day or that.
I don’t see myself doing that at Costco or Wal-Mart, or at one of those machines where you make your own prints.
I agree with Charles Etter of Monroe, who told Dunlop: “They’ve got the personal touch; Jim and his staff would always take the time.”
Doing things faster and even less expensively isn’t always best. Sometimes what I really need is some knowledgeable, personal service.
I’d like to thank the Haugen family and their employees for doing things the right way for so many years.
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459: benbow@heraldnet.com.
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