Page 16 - Westman Business 2018

16 THE BRANDON SUN • WESTMAN BUSINESS • OCTOBER 2018

From left, Jessica, Jenny, David, and Cherrill. (Submitted)
Both film and digital processing services

on offer at Brandon Photographics

You might say that Brandon Photo- just give it up – let the others do it’,” said town does,” Hrabok said. “There aren’t any cameras/processing stores, and it gives you
graphics is going back to the future. Hrabok. “So we dismantled the machine, other photo places in Brandon. “Somebody the opportunity to have conventions, listen
Despite the fact mobile phones that nut by bolt by screw, and got rid of it. It asked me the other day, ‘How is it that to speakers, find out what others are doing,
take pictures are ubiquitous, some people ended up in the dumpster unfortunately, you’re still standing? What did you do?’ see what the coming trends are. So that’s
still prefer to use a camera and film. And because it was kind of one of those piec- And I basically said, ‘We outlasted them.’” helped us a lot.”
for those in this area who do the latter, es of equipment that nobody wanted.” But Hrabok said that, surprisingly, consid- But she stressed that Foto Source is
Brandon Photographics is the only game over the years, as digital mostly took over ering all the other advancements that have not an overlord – simply a buying group
in town. from film, the other film-processing loca- been made over the last few years, once that gives Brandon Photographics greater
At the same time, they’ve developed an tions started shutting down. they got back into film processing, it was purchasing power and a network of other
app that allows people to place their or- “One by one, all those other businesses still the same old same old. “The technolo- professionals with whom to compare notes.
ders for numerous different items on their disappeared,” Hrabok said. . So there was gy hasn’t changed it a bit,” she said. “It’s the “We’re independent,” she said. “And the
phones. us. And we had gotten rid of our machine. very same process it was when we got rid of only thing we don’t do here is sell equip-
“It’s interesting to us because it’s on And people were coming to us and saying, our old machine.” ment. And that’s an area that’s really lack-
two different ends of the spectrum – it’s ‘I still have a film camera, it’s taking lovely But she made it clear, too, that pho- ing in Brandon – there isn’t a camera store
going backward to film-developing and photos, I don’t want to get rid of it, so what to finishing is the focal point of Brandon here anymore.”
it’s going forward to ordering pictures on do I do with my film?’” Photographics. In addition to owner David Tschetter,
your phone,” said photographer Cherrill To meet customer demand, Brandon “It’s our business,” Hrabok said. “It’s not there are three full-time staff members at
Hrabok. “So it’s a little bit of everything.” Photographics partnered with a processing a lost leader. It’s not something we do on the store, and they do – and can do – just
While Brandon Photographics does all company in Winnipeg. But that business’s the side as part of something else. We’ve about anything.
types of photo-finishing, the company got turnaround time was quite lengthy, and the expanded into other areas such as photo “We do processing, we do framing, we
out of film processing five or six years ago price was a bit high, and since film buffs gifting, photo books, the app, the kiosks have albums, we have photo gifts – so pret-
because there weren’t enough rolls coming were coming to Brandon Photographics – things that keep us relevant. Some of ty much the spectrum, which makes us dif-
through the shop to justify operating a ma- to have their pics sent away to be finished the other stores were chains so I feel like ferent from a lot of places,” Hrabok said. “A
chine that needed to do a certain amount anyway, the business figured it might as they had access to things that maybe we lot of places are camera stores, or they’re a
of processing to keep its chemistry stable. well cut out the middle man. So they pur- didn’t, because we’re just a little indepen- lab, or they’re a portrait studio. And other
Plus there were other competitors in the chased a small machine and started pro- dent Mom and Pop operation. And so we than the equipment, we’ve kind of com-
Wheat City who did volumes of that type cessing film again. have actually signed on with Foto Source,
of work. “And we just thought, ‘Well, we’ll “That’s something that nobody else in which is a buying group for photography/ » Continued on Page 18