At last, sanctuary!!

steven_e007

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Mar 13, 2007
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Shropshire,
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Hello from the UK.

I was a very keen photographer for many years experimenting with larger formats. I have a collection of some antique lenses and cameras.

I had to shelve my hobby for a few years whilst I finished a part time degree (if you've never done one of these.... DON'T!!! )

I finished at Christmas and after getting a few outstanding chores out of the way I'm now ready to photograph again.

Alas... whilst I've been gone the whole word has gone MAD!

Or digital... (same thing )

I wanted to develop my first few B/W films yesterday so tried to buy some developer. I was unable to locate any photographic chemicals of any sort by any manufacturer withinn a 30 mile radius of my house.

No, I don't live in the country, I live in a city in the centre of one of the most densley populated countries in the world :confused:

We have a phenomena in the UK called 'Jessops'. They were once a photographic supplier. Now, they are like a bird of prey that swoops down on any shop that tries to deal in photography and buys it out. Then they 'rationalize' (close down all but one shop per town) and turn them into digital photography outlets. They have little interest at all in second hand equipment and none digital photography and have virtually elimiated it from the high streets...

I tried to buy developer on the interwebby thingy and even that was much harder than I expected, there were a few places I could go but worryingly less than I hoped for...

Then I found this place and mighty pleased I am about it. I was getting really worried for a while...


Steve
 

Steve Smith

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Welcome from another Steve.

Jessops stores are quite variable (we recently had a thread on this). Some are only interested in digital and others (like the one near to me) keep a small but replenished stock of traditional materials.

I can usually buy Ilford film, paper and chemicals but anything more exotic needs to come from one of the mail order suppliers (Retro Photographic, Silverprint, etc).


Steve.
 

Bob F.

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Welcome Steve.

To ease you into the new world on on-line sourcing, I've copied my "Retailers" bookmarks below - the main ones I use such as Silverprint, Mathers, RK etc are in there.

Have fun, Bob.

 

mikeg

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Apr 16, 2003
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Location
Shropshire,
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Welcome from another Shropshire resident. The larger Jessops in Shrewsbury usually has a very limited range of chemicals and paper. At least they did the last time I was in town -- probably before Christmas now! But as Steve has mentioned, I'd order them online from someone like Silverprint, Retro, Firstcall, Nova etc.

Cheers

Mike
 

copake_ham

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Steve,

Welcome to APUG from across "The Pond". If you've been away a while then yes, the photog world has definitely changed.

Cannot speak directly to your Jessops situation - but it's rather similar here. In some ways it's a "chicken vs. egg" thing. The stores offer fewer and fewer traditional materials so folks turn to the web. Then more and more folk buy via the web so the demand for materials at the stores drops off etc. etc.

Overall, the web is a good thing - after all, it's how we have APUG!
 

Sanjay Sen

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Hi Steve,

Another welcome from across the pond! Here's hoping you enjoy your time on APUG.


Best wishes,
 

Ed Sukach

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And Welcome from another Ipswich, 30 miles (~ 50 Km) NNE of Boston Massachusetts, USA
 

Black Dog

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Welcome to APUG! You might also have a look at monochromephotography.com {Peter Hogan's online shop}.
 
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steven_e007

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Thanks very much for the welcome messages and the list of online suppliers, it is much appreciated.

[rant]
About 10 years ago I could drive to several towns nearby which had maybe three, four, five photographic shops, some of them with an excellent range of darkroom chemicals and supplies. Now all I see is Jessops. Although some are supposed to cater for darkroom supplies, I went to the one in Telford and they had nothing on display any more. I asked the assistant and all they had was just one bottle of hypam, a bottle of Jessops fixer and a bottle of wetting agent left. Nothing else at all, and all three behind the counter out of site :-(

I suppose I should not blame Jessops alone for the disappearence of all the competition (but I'm sure they've played their part!). Years ago they were a very good shop, but they seem to have moved on from photography to world domination ;-) Well, good for shareholders, no doubt. Maybe that is why they are the only ones left...

The same seems to apply to pretty much every type of shop. Telford (a bland new town with a big modern 'shopping mall') maybe contains about 100 shops? If so then 90 of them sell womens fashions and the remaining 10 are the same franchises (Costa coffee, Thorntons, Whittards, WH Smiths) that you would find anywhere and everwhere else in the UK. I think most shopping centres and high streets are no longer the places to run a business supplying customers with what they want, they are battlegrounds where national and international franchises fight to get a market share of the top 100 selling lines and anybody wanting to buy something off the list can forget it!
[/rant]

So the Internet it is. Times move on, so I may as well get used to it.
I don't mind, now I've got some decent web site addresses!



Steve
 

copake_ham

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Sadness, depression, anger, rage, acceptance.

Yep, seems as if you've now passed through all of the grieving stages. Welcome to the "new world of photography" - it's different; but not so bad.
 
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steven_e007

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Sadness, depression, anger, rage, acceptance.

Yep, seems as if you've now passed through all of the grieving stages. Welcome to the "new world of photography" - it's different; but not so bad.
__________________
Regards,
George
Click to expand...

!!

Steve
 

Simon E

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Feb 28, 2005
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Shropshire
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Another resident of Shropshire here. Welcome to APUG.

If you can find a product listed at www.jessops.com then you can order it for collection at your local branch. I do this with Jessops in Shrewsbury (I find they're more responsive at the Mardol shop, tel. 01743 249187) for chemicals and paper, as both are particularly heavy.
 

Flotsam

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Sep 30, 2002
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Yes, this is a great place for a traditional photographer that is returning after an extended hiatus to learn the terrain of materials and equipment in th 21st Century. It is much more hopeful than you would think after visiting your old local suppliers. APUG demonstrates that traditional photography still has an active,widespread and fiercely dedicated following.
 

sjperry

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Dec 29, 2005
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Welcome to Steve, from another Steve. Here in the Los Angeles suburbs (Arcadia), there are still some photo stores within reasonable proximity that carry chenicals. I could buy them for a little less on line but I try to support the local shops as much as possible. Websellers such as Freestyle have a larger selection though so I buy some items from them (they also have a store in LA, but I try to avoid going into that mess as much as possible). Webstores are great for buying film and chemicals for any of us that don't have a local store. As you have found, film photography has gone from mass market to more of a specialized market. I guess you could say the same for tube audio equipment (which I also prefer), but it shows no signs of going away either!
 

Doug Hook

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Oct 1, 2006
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Bedfordshire
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Welcome from me too, still newish here.

I know what you mean about the changing look of retailers. The few traditional shops I know of are starting to look a bit "dusty" these days but I am so thankful there is a ready supply of B&W materials, albeit mail order, which actually works fine.

Makes me wonder what the next 10 years will bring.... whatever happens on the equipment/material side, I'm hopeful of still seeing fantastic work in books, galleries, magazines and so on...
 

Flotsam

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Yes. Support your local Brick and Mortar shops whenever you can but the web can provide access to a huge variety of needed items that just aren't available within driving distance.
 
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steven_e007

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Well, I shot my first rolls of B/W film for a couple of years a few weeks ago. Last weekend I got the urge to develop them

Sadly all my chemicals were 'time expired'

I poured everthing away and went to buy some more from my local shops on Monday. After finding this a completely impossible task I order some Rodinal, Ilford MG developer and Hypam mail order on the Interwebby-thingy.

One week later and no sign of anything!

I'm working away all next week so if a courier turns up no one will be in to sign for it anyway, so maybe the week after... ?

I think in future this is going to need a bit more planning ahead than I'm used to (or good at!)

Steve
 
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steven_e007

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Shropshire,
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David Lingham said:
Welcome Steven, from just across the border.
Click to expand...

Cardiff? A fine city. I was at the Polytechnic of Wales and have fond memoies of Cardiff, involving Avan bitter, Felin Foel and resturants in the Chinese quarter, mostly!


Now, Cardiff used to have some fine photographic shops...

Steve
 

pentaxuser

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Daventry, No
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Welcome Steve. As you have already seen, helpful answers arrive thick and fast here with the right combination of sympathy and empathy thrown in.

pentaxuser
 
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steven_e007

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Mar 13, 2007
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Location
Shropshire,
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pentaxuser said:
Welcome Steve. As you have already seen, helpful answers arrive thick and fast here with the right combination of sympathy and empathy thrown in.

pentaxuser
Click to expand...

Indeed, it is a most excellent forum!

I'm only sorry I didn't find it a while back...

Steve
 
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