Sunday 27 April 2014

Camera shop refocuses to keep up - Fairbanks Daily News


Business Spotlight: Fairbanks Fast Foto



Business Spotlight: Fairbanks Fast Foto



Alaska Camera Fairbanks Fast Foto on Airport Way offers a variety of printing services, seen Friday morning, April 25, 2014. It is the Business Spotlight for the week.




Business Spotlight: Fairbanks Fast Foto



Business Spotlight: Fairbanks Fast Foto



Alaska Camera Fairbanks Fast Foto on Airport Way rents camera equipment, seen Friday morning, April 25, 2014. It is the Business Spotlight for the week.




Business Spotlight: Fairbanks Fast Foto



Business Spotlight: Fairbanks Fast Foto



Owner Kevin Rice poses in his store Alaska Camera Fairbanks Fast Foto on Airport Way Friday morning, April 25, 2014. It is the Business Spotlight for the week.




Business Spotlight: Fairbanks Fast Foto



Business Spotlight: Fairbanks Fast Foto



Alaska Camera Fairbanks Fast Foto on Airport Way seen Friday morning, April 25, 2014. It is the Business Spotlight for the week.







Posted: Sunday, April 27, 2014 12:00 am



Camera shop refocuses to keep up


By Jeff Richardson


jrichardson@newsminer.com


newsminer.com





FAIRBANKS — Kevin Rice has seen plenty of changes during his 18-year career as owner of a Fairbanks camera shop, and he expects more are on the way.




The shift from film to digital photography, the growing use of cellphone cameras, and the rise of Internet shopping have helped spur new services. The evolution even included a new name — when Rice moved his business four years ago to its present location near Shopper’s Forum, it shifted from Fairbanks Fast Foto to Alaska Camera.



“We obviously had to change or be left behind,” Rice said.


With a previous job selling Minolta cameras and a business degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Rice was convinced in 1996 to buy a share of Fairbanks Fast Foto with Ed Linkous, whose family had operated the business since it started in a local garage in the 1970s.


Today, Alaska Camera is a roomy spot filled with a wide range of camera equipment. Tripods, lenses and camera bags and fill much of the space, some of the same products the business offered a few decades ago.


But new services are a big part of the recipe since Rice became full owner in 2000. Alaska Camera rents specialty lenses for shooting the northern lights or other distinctive subjects. People who do take photos on their phones can email them directly to the shop to have them made into prints.


Rice figures about half his revenues were from lab work 15 years ago. That’s dipped to about 4 percent today, mostly developing film from old rolls or cameras that people find years after their use.


In addition to traditional photo paper, Alaska Camera puts photos on a wide variety of items, including aluminum, canvas, keychains and coasters.


“Most people don’t really print much anymore,” Rice said. “When they do, they want something different and unique.”


Even in the era of cellphone cameras, Rice said there’s still an ongoing demand for a good digital camera. Taking pictures of the aurora or the birds at Creamer’s Field requires something more versatile than an iPhone.


Rice jokes that “mamarazzis” are a big part of his business — mothers who develop a photography hobby by taking pictures of their kids. Rice said his staff is there for advice when that hobby evolves into the need for better equipment.


“Everyone needs a hobby, and we fulfill that need when they’re looking for a hobby of photo,” he said.


And although a wealth of camera reviews are available on the Internet, there’s an undeniable benefit to getting the feel of a camera and asking a real person questions about it, Rice said.


“Whether they buy from us or not, we want them to make a good decision,” he said.


Contact staff writer Jeff Richardson at 459-7518. Follow him on Twitter:


@FDNMbusiness.




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