Film is alive and well in the north west!

CatLABS · Mar 20, 2013

Just came back from a short hop around in the north west and found some really amazing things there.

Read my post about what i saw:

http://processorparts.blogspot.com/2013/03/film-is-alive-and-well-in-north-west.html

Marc B. · Mar 20, 2013

No surprise!
The Pacific Northwest is a beautiful place...to see, and photograph.
Glad you enjoyed your trip.

Marc

CatLABS · Mar 20, 2013

It sure is. It was amazing to see so many people hard at work using traditional and alternative processes.
The north east, or anywhere else for that matter is not any less of a pretty place (each with its own type of beauty/interest) - now its our job to make the big outlets in or area look like that.

Jeff Kubach · Mar 20, 2013

That's great to hear!

Jeff

Klainmeister · Mar 20, 2013

I miss Pro Photo...used to get all me stuffs there.

flatulent1 · Mar 20, 2013

Glazers is a great place to wander through; I always leave there a couple of hundred dollars poorer. I've been to Photo Center NW only once, when they were having their annual 'garage sale' a few years ago. Got the full, jaw-dropping tour. Wish I had the finances to drop everything and study there.

Jesper · Mar 20, 2013

Nice to hear some good news.
A bit too far for me to visit though..

arealitystudios · Mar 20, 2013

The next time you are in Portland you should make it a point to go to Blue Moon Camera. They have a modest selection of film but for old camera collectors it is a DREAM! The shelves and cases are bursting with TLR's, old folders, rangefinder lenses, large format cameras, etc. etc. Plus their processing facilities are first rate.

Thank you for posting about our region though. We do love our film photography in the Pacific Northwest.

M Stat · Mar 20, 2013

It used to be that Pro Photo had a huge walk-in room/cooler to store their film and photographic paper. Now all that is there is a film fridge. That was depressing to see. Pro Photo quickly switched to mainly all digital some years ago, and I never went back.

PhotoJim · Mar 20, 2013

We're international... you mean the northwest of the US?

Still, good news to hear.

sr44 · Mar 20, 2013

Wow, I've lived in the Northwest my whole life and I've never been inside Glazers, I had no idea that had cases of film like that! Wish I didn't live almost 100 miles from Seattle.

Ken Nadvornick · Mar 20, 2013

flatulent1 said:
Glazers is a great place to wander through; I always leave there a couple of hundred dollars poorer.

Heh, heh...

My last visit to Glazer's ended with me walking out almost $400 poorer. A 50-sheet box of 11x14 and a 250-sheet box of 8x10 Ilford papers, among too many other things. Visiting the film fridge in back is like making the Pilgrimage of Lourdes. Or arriving at a Disney resort destination.

Ken

CatLABS · Mar 20, 2013

sr44 said:
Wow, I've lived in the Northwest my whole life and I've never been inside Glazers, I had no idea that had cases of film like that! Wish I didn't live almost 100 miles from Seattle.

100 miles? Thats about 10-15 minutes with the local speed limit.. no? especially if you are going down hill to the city .

amsp · Mar 20, 2013

You Americans have no idea how lucky you are

alarickc · Mar 20, 2013

I avoid Pro Photo, the staff is usually rude to me and the up charge on their film is awful. If I need film locally I go to Blue Moon(only ¢50-$1 up charge over the online retailers, it's actually cheaper for a roll or two if you count shipping). I will however have to make a point of visiting Glazers next time I'm in Seattle.

Klainmeister · Mar 20, 2013

I'm sad to hear the decline of service/sales at Pro Photo. For the longest time they were always helpful and had what I needed in stock. Haven't been there in many years.

Blue Moon was always exceptional as well.

MattKing · Mar 20, 2013

sr44 said:
Wow, I've lived in the Northwest my whole life and I've never been inside Glazers, I had no idea that had cases of film like that! Wish I didn't live almost 100 miles from Seattle.

I drive through Bellingham on my way to Glazer's .

A trip from home (near Vancouver BC) to Seattle and back makes for a full day for my wife and I, but we usually can find a few other things to do on the way.

sly · Mar 20, 2013

I've been in Washington State twice in the 30+ years I've lived on Vancouver Island. Both times I went to Glazers. Best thing about Seattle. The traffic is one of the worst things about it......shudder.

flatulent1 · Mar 20, 2013

Ken Nadvornick said:
Visiting the film fridge in back is like making the Pilgrimage of Lourdes. Or arriving at a Disney resort destination.

Ken

For me it's more like visiting a smorgasbord. I'll have some of these, some of those... Ooh, what's that one? Okay, I'll take some of that. I have a hard time keeping my mind on my actual needs when I'm in there.

Damn, now I'm thinking of reasons to get down there Saturday morning...

David Nardi · Mar 21, 2013

I live in the wrong country. Lucky Americans. Canada is missing out. All the camera stores here in Toronto have been pro digital in the last decade with an annually declining stock of film and related accessories. I get all my stuff from the States. The closest thing to these photo stores in the northwest was when I went to The Camera Store in Calgary, Alberta back in 2007. They had such a healthy supply of analog gear (even a few rows of enlargers on display) that I actually felt like I was in a photography store and not a consumer electronics one.

dpurdy · Mar 21, 2013

Klainmeister said:
I'm sad to hear the decline of service/sales at Pro Photo. For the longest time they were always helpful and had what I needed in stock. Haven't been there in many years.

Blue Moon was always exceptional as well.

I was just in Portland's Pro Photo yesterday. Walking by and decided to check in. The cold walk in film room was gone and just a glass front fridge. The only sheet film was 4x5 Tmax 100 or some Fuji color. All the Ilford and Kodak stuff was there though in small quantities. I even saw some Rollei film there for 12 dollars a roll.
They had most the sizes and surfaces of Ilford paper.
In the used camera case lots of stuff. Lots of Nikon film cameras and several Leicas. Even a Rollei 3.5 Automat in very nice condition.
Most the store is dedicated to ink printers and digital cameras and accessories.
Dennis

DF · Mar 22, 2013

David
Sorry to hear that it's difficult to find the stuff you need, and, being in a big city like Toronto! It's alittle bit like that here in Chicago, but won't get to the point where I'd have to purchase online from say, New York for film & related supplies, but it has gotten scary at some points in time. The film fridge behind the counter at the local Calumet isn't anything like it used to be, but fuller now than I've seen in months. That's true everywhere.
There must be other film photog's in Toronto who have similer problems, and, if that void could be filled, a new camera store that specializes in film and related supplies.

Ken Nadvornick · Mar 22, 2013

DF said:
I meant this post to go underneith David Nardi's post in response to him is that what "quick reply" is supposed to be?

A Quick Reply gets appended next at the current bottom of the thread. If you wish to reply directly to a post higher up in the thread, select Reply with Quote from that post. Then you can edit the original poster's quote down to only the part you are replying to directly. Just don't modify the essential content or context of their original post. That would be considered bad form.

Ken

DF · Mar 23, 2013

Ken Nadvornick said:
A Quick Reply gets appended next at the current bottom of the thread. If you wish to reply directly to a post higher up in the thread, select Reply with Quote from that post. Then you can edit the original poster's quote down to only the part you are replying to directly. Just don't modify the essential content or context of their original post. That would be considered bad form.

Ken

Thanks Ken

Brian C. Miller · Mar 25, 2013

I've been shopping at Glazer's since I started with photography, in the late 90's. While it's gone from a big walk-in fridge that was like Candyland to what it is now, it's still great for it to be there.

The guys in the film shop still care, and care deeply, about film. It's good to chat with them. Most of them prefer using Ilford over Kodak. They didn't know about 8x10 special orders, or using x-ray film. But they do know about getting an RA-4 line started, the current color kits, and lots of other knowledge.

Film is alive and well in the north west!

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency