SEATTLE — Tucked away in a small storefront on Lake City Way at the address “12330 ½” a small sign with “CAMERAS” sits above the doorway on the busy street.
The retailer, Shot on Film Store, is squeezed into a small space between a tattoo parlor and a barber shop.
What makes the small store stand out is its sheer variety and quantity of photographic film goods. Three refrigerators in the store hold 35mm and 120mm film stocks from around the world and rare expired rolls from the 20th century. Glass shelves lining the perimeter are packed full of cameras.
Ukrainian black and white film, Japanese disposable cameras, Handmade German lenses: such a variety of analog film and cameras in today's digital age is a rare find.
"I just didn't find a selection of film at other stores, I wanted a place that had everything that I could find, and I would love to go into the store in Japan and Germany, and I could see these great little shops just filled to the ceiling," said the store’s owner, Ken Russell.
Russell recently returned from a camera-hunting spree in Japan a few days ago where he found five Contax cameras, which are regarded as high-quality in the analog film community.
"They sold out the day after I got back," Russell said.
Beyond Japan imports, the store was started out of Russell’s love of cameras.
“What I decided to do is put my collection out there for sale. Part of it was that my collection was getting overwhelming. I had about a two years head start on what you see here,” said Russell, gesturing at the shelves of cameras around him.
On a busy Saturday afternoon, customers packed the small shop browsing his collection, purchasing film, and making trades for new cameras.
“Every day I’m shocked at how much the community supports the store,” Russell said.
Recently, film giant Kodak announced the return of a once-discontinued film stock, Ektachrome. In a time where digital photography is the norm, it was a surprise for the film community. Russell put in an order for his shop and allowed customers to pre-order the film online.
Russell recalls the day the film came in, “when Ektachrome was released one of our customers organized a meetup, on their own, out in front of our store. She came and picked up her Ektachrome that she bought and then promptly handed boxes out to everyone in the group.”
In addition to cameras and film, Shot on Film Store also offers film developing and digital scanning. Just last year Bartell Drugs decided to cease in-house film developing at their locations and now instead they send film out to a lab, a process that takes about two weeks to complete.
Longtime Seattle camera retailer Glazer’s, around since 1935, focuses on digital photography; however they also carry some film stock. While they are unable to develop film, they hand out fliers with analog photography resources for Seattleites where Shot on Film Store is listed as a resource for film development.
While some customers do bring in old film they found in their parents’ or grandparents’ closets, Russell said, “we have new customers that bring us film to develop. It’s a lot of the new generation of film users.”
Like with many retro mediums, film is experiencing a comeback, as can be seen by the fact that Kodak brought back Ektachrome.
“Just like records made a comeback, analog photography is making a comeback. People love the rich color,” Russell said.
He believes that film’s appeal lies in its look and is part of the reason why he carries such a wide selection of film types.
“Variety is important, and it gives you a choice for different types of film," Russell said. "Color film is one of those things where each film has its own personality; Its own warmth, coolness, sharpness, detail, or pastel faded colors.”
With so many people coming in buying and selling cameras, there is always something new, exciting, or strange at the store. Most recently, Russell was sold a vintage Lecia camera containing film from World War II.
It’s not unusual to get old collectable cameras in the shop, but Russell decided to try and process some of the old undeveloped film left in the camera and its case.
What he found were photographs from a small town on the French-German border depicting life during the second World War as well as the wreckage of German tanks and airplanes.
“I scanned the film and posted it in a vintage film photographers group on Facebook, and response I got was overwhelming. Dozens of people were messaging me, telling me that this is the most historically significant thing that has been posted in the group,” he said.
Various historical organizations and preservation groups have now reached out to Russell asking if they can use the newfound photographs. He wrote about the discovery and posted the photos in a blog post on the store's website.
The very camera that shot these images and the strip of film are on a shelf in the store.
