Window shopping
A year ago there were two small shops in Norwich catering entirely to film users. The proprietors were obvious enthusiasts and one often entered to find them holding court to visiting time-wasters who'd stopped by for a chat. Their windows were crammed with secondhand film cameras and lenses; all the usual stuff ...Zorkis, FEDs, Nikon Fs Yashica MATs, Voigtländer Bessas and Zeiss Ikons. Six months ago, finding myself in the area, I stopped by for a spot of window shopping at one of these establishments. I'd once put a repair job their way, for which they'd charged £40. Peering through the dust-filmed window I saw bare shelves and a couple of dead bluebottles, belly-up, like the business itself. A fortnight ago the experience was repeated at the other shop. I'd patronised it only a month before and augmented its receipts to the tune of £15 by purchasing an "Autoknips" self-timer. Well, I'd done what I could to keep the light alight, but who am I to complain? When I want film I buy it online. All the cameras I use have come from eBay. How can these places possibly hope to survive?
This left a third business, in Cambridge. It looked altogether more robust, with premises in an alley just off the city's busy Market Hill. There was a half decent range of film for sale and the window display was about 50/50 film/digital. For my taste there were rather too many of those late film cameras that too closely resembled the early digitals that followed ...auto-zoom, auto-focus, ergonomic "grips" and little LED displays set into the top plate. Not long after I took this photo, in about April last year, the place shut down and moved to a more prestigious, tourist-frequented site opposite Kings College. Film, though still present, has been de-emphasised; one gets the impression it is a now a sideline, continued as a sentimental archaism. Time will tell. I remain convinced that film will endure, but its days on the high street are probably numbered.
Window shopping
A year ago there were two small shops in Norwich catering entirely to film users. The proprietors were obvious enthusiasts and one often entered to find them holding court to visiting time-wasters who'd stopped by for a chat. Their windows were crammed with secondhand film cameras and lenses; all the usual stuff ...Zorkis, FEDs, Nikon Fs Yashica MATs, Voigtländer Bessas and Zeiss Ikons. Six months ago, finding myself in the area, I stopped by for a spot of window shopping at one of these establishments. I'd once put a repair job their way, for which they'd charged £40. Peering through the dust-filmed window I saw bare shelves and a couple of dead bluebottles, belly-up, like the business itself. A fortnight ago the experience was repeated at the other shop. I'd patronised it only a month before and augmented its receipts to the tune of £15 by purchasing an "Autoknips" self-timer. Well, I'd done what I could to keep the light alight, but who am I to complain? When I want film I buy it online. All the cameras I use have come from eBay. How can these places possibly hope to survive?
This left a third business, in Cambridge. It looked altogether more robust, with premises in an alley just off the city's busy Market Hill. There was a half decent range of film for sale and the window display was about 50/50 film/digital. For my taste there were rather too many of those late film cameras that too closely resembled the early digitals that followed ...auto-zoom, auto-focus, ergonomic "grips" and little LED displays set into the top plate. Not long after I took this photo, in about April last year, the place shut down and moved to a more prestigious, tourist-frequented site opposite Kings College. Film, though still present, has been de-emphasised; one gets the impression it is a now a sideline, continued as a sentimental archaism. Time will tell. I remain convinced that film will endure, but its days on the high street are probably numbered.