Mike Gammill Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>For years I've often mentioned the family caemra shop and have been searching for some of my photos form those days. At last, the first installment. Our family business, F.J. Gammill Photography (later shortened to Gammill Photo & Camera), opened for business in the fall of 1974. My dad, the founder, and owner, had been doing portrait and wedding photography since the mid-1950's decided it was time to open a business. While maintaining his postion as composing room foreman at the local newspaper he opened for business in a narrow building once used for Selective Service registration. I worked afternoons during my senior year in high school and continued to work after starting college. Initially, we only did portraits and copied old photographs, but quickly got hooked up with Berkey Marketing so we were able to carry Konica, Sunpak, Tamron, and Omega products. The first image shows our storefront around 1976 or 1977. I don't remember which camera I used, but pretty sure it was a Konica since the negatives have that distinctive notch at the edge of the frame that most Konicas (SLR and RF) seem to have.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>A few views of the stock. From 1974 to early 1979 we occupied this building. Later we moved to a much larger location (but that's in the next installment).</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>Whatever camera I used, I don't think I'd quite gotten the knack of focusing for maximum DOF field. </p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>I still have two or three of the orginal Super 8 sound projectors, BTW. Of course, we sold film. I hope I can find a color image later of our film since the distance from the film shelf makes identifcation a bit difficult. I know we always had Tri-X and Plus-X as well as Kodachrome 64, Ektachrome 64, Kodacolor II (remember this one?), and Vericolor II. Also, near the top you can see a couple of 100' bulk rolls (Tri-X, I think).</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>Being a small building we used every bit of space. </p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>Here's one of my dad serving a customer. When I made this photo my dad (left) was probably a little younger than I am now.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>I suspect the previous image may have been made with a Minolta (possibly an XE-5) since I was constantly "borrowing" one from stock.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou_Meluso Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>Neat Mike. A nice look back and a great place to learn about cameras. Those were some tight quarters. I look forward to seeing the larger location</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_b.4 Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>I've never been there but what's funny is how much this shop resembles the first location of Davis Camera in my hometown of Indianapolis from the same era. Did your dad's store offer camera repair as well?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leicaglow Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>Very very cool Mike. Thanks for sharing. I'd love to have that case of old RFs. I like the Alden bulk film loaders (I still use them), and the bulk film. That was certainly the heyday of film photography.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 <p>Where was it? It brings back good memories.<br> My first job (while I was still in high school) was in a mom&pop shop.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subbarayan_prasanna Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>Nice recall <strong>Mike</strong>! I never thought that businesses like this would close down, ever. Unfortunately, it seems to be happening the world over with advancing industrialism. Thanks for the post. sp.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick_drawbridge Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>Great! Takes me back, to a myriad little shops like that, in small towns all round the country. Not too many still in business, these days...I'm looking forward to the next installment.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatulent1 Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>That is so cool. I had nothing like this growing up. (My father sold heating oil accounts. A camera store would have been much more fun.) Looking forward to Part II.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_beisigl Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>Thank you Mike for taking me back to the days I worked part time in a full service camera store in the late 60's to the late 70's.<br> The picture of your dad and customer, with the display cases full of cameras, brought back great memories as we had the same type of display cases.<br> When the new cameras came out, we got to "play" with them and wish we had the money to buy the big bad black Nikon35 mm camera, or the the new A1 canon camera.<br> I am looking forward to your 2nd installment.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_bergman1 Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>Mike,</p> <p>These images are great and take me back in time to when I got out of the service. I loved looking through the glass cases of all the new stock. It was interesting that after seeing articles of the latest camera shows that 3 months down the line see could see the cameras in the flesh.</p> <p>I remember always wanting to take my camera with me. It seemed to show you meant business. They would let you try out the new lenses.</p> <p>Looking forward to seeing part II.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_cooper9 Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>This takes me back to the early 1960's, when as teenager I would take the tube into central London to window shop the many camera stores both small and large. They had a huge amount of used stuff like canon and nikon rangefinders and old Linhofs. I owned a Periflex Gold Star at the time which I sold to a friend to by the new Olympus Pen F. I took the Pen F with 100mm lens in '64 to Soho to the Marquee Club on Wardor Street, and took shots of Rod Stewart and Howling Wolf performing on stage (I still have the tri-x negatives somewhere). </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick_gerbehy1 Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>Nice article and nice photos taken aorund the same time as I caught the camera bug. Sadly I just read that the family owned camera store I used at that time closed earlier this month. (Hudson Camera in Jersey City)</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>Yes, Louis, definitely cramped. The back room, though, was longer (no wider) and that's where we had our studio. Our setup included Photogenic power supply and strobes (two mains, plus background) and an RB 67. No darkroom facilities, though. We were still using the darkroom at home. Dan B, we generally did not do repairs in house as none of us were really qualified so most of our non-warranty repairs went to IPS Camera Repair in Tuscaloosa, AL. We could ship them or take the two hour drive if we chose. Michael, the Alden loaders are the best IMHO. When we closed in 1993 we had none of these loaders left. I have four that I bought after the shop closed. I still have the orginal Watson 66 loader (marketed by Burke & James) that my dad bought in the early 60's and it still works fine. Bill, we were located in West Point, MS. For those unfamiliar with West Point, it is about 18 miles east of Mississippi State University. I commuted to class and worked at the camera shop when hours allowed. John, Howlin' Wolf was from White Station, which is just north of West Point. <br> On one of the rolls of negatives that I scanned these pics from I found a photo of my first car (which I used to commute to MSU.)</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_wiegerink1 Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>Mike,<br> I bought a '69' Mach I when I returned from Vietnam. What a car! It had a 428cu.in. Cobra Jet under the hood and could get from point A to point B rather fast. Good on speed - not good on gas! It went well with my sexy Miranda Sensorex 35mm slr since both had great curves. Still have the Sensorex, but the Mach I is long gone. Wish it were the other way around. JohnW</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_harvey3 Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>Wow! Retro flashback. Looking at the film shelf, I remember my days at a Ritz store in Monroeville PA. Those days were pre-VISA, it was Bank Americard then.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aplumpton Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>Mike, great views of what appears to be a very appealing place to compare and acquire equipment, and probably to learn quite a few things from the owner in the process. Our local town camera store closed about 5 years ago, being a family business that had been ongoing longer than I can remember (orioginally begun by the grandfather-photographer of the then owner), but they (or the buyers) still have a small onetime branch store in the neighbouring city. Not quite the same, though, as the comprehensiveness of analogue and digital supplies is not as well balanced.</p> <p>One of the nice things about our local store was the occasional welcome to visit the owner's back room supply section (rows of metal frame shelves), with its more exotic films, papers and chemicals and some professional gear that space didn't allow up front. In addition to amateur clients, it served both professional and government photographers. Another different store in the city is not family run, but tries to supply both digital and traditional film, chemical and paper photographic supplies, as well as the most modern digital equipment, alongside glass cabinets of sorted by manufacture used 35mm, 120m and LF film cameras and optics, so it too is worth suppporting.</p> <p>Something very appealing in seeing all those camera and supplier signs in the storefront windows.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_lofquist Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Thanks for the images. Fortunately we still have a large "ma and pa" camera store in Glen Ellyn, IL.: PJ's Camera owned by Keith and Margaret Larson. And they still do processing of slide film on-site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 <p>John, my Mustang had a much tamer power plant: the 302 cid V8 with 2 bbl carb. It was still fairly quick and had enough torque that it still chirp a tire when starting off in second. Thanks, Arthur. We closed for good in 1993 and still had a occasional sale of leftover gear because we would get calls for a couple of years after we closed. I still get the Photo Industry Reporter magazine so I can keep up to date on new developments. <br /> We had a pretty broad range of customers (and browsers) over the years. We did all the developing and printing of the school's black & white. We also did work for the local police and sheriff offices. I still remember printing "mug shots" and photos of murder victims for law enforcement. Of course, they went digital quite a few years ago.<br /> The showcase, from what I can tell, had Yashica, Konica, Canon, and Minolta gear as well as Tamron lenses. Later we added Fujica and Olympus.<br> Alex- slide processing on site, now in this day that is impressive. We never did the volume to justify that so ours was sent out.<br> BTW, in the lower left showcase there are a few used rangefinders. I think the Tower 10A that I've been working recently is in that picture. </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustys pics Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 <p>Awesome post Mike! Thanks so much for sharing. I'm going to post this for my Photo students to see. I particularly enjoyed the "Movie Dept." photo. Those look like Eumig Super 8 Sound projectors....VERY nice units made in Austria, probably still cranking away today. If you have anymore please share.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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