Walking through the precinct this morning with Richard (one of Idealogy’s evil Digital clones!) we were warmed by the sight of a new Jessops store opening and the juxtaposition of the TV coverage during this violent week - images of this venerable but troubled brand being targeted by feral teen looters wandering the streets of our fair cities. There was something quite uplifting about the ‘old for new’ transition and that business leaders felt that Southampton was a good bet to refresh the fortunes of this trusted High Street name.
But then we thought “Hold on – how do major photographic and digital brands stay in business when we now do almost all of our photography and video on Smart phones?” And then we thought “And what about Photographic processing, prints and Photo Albums?”
Long gone are the days when your son or daughter’s girlfriends or boyfriends were subjected to the rigours of paging through an old, curling photographic album. Remember the embarrassed laughter when confronted by a faded picture of a pre-pubescent bottom staring at the SLR. No more do we gaze wistfully at 20-30 year old sepia colour images of relatives long gone.
Nowadays, we have our digital photo libraries – our holiday memories are saved into files with ‘humorous’ names, our Graduation days are shared with the world on social media sites. No prints, no carefully collated archives of ‘FASTPRINT’ bonus value colour glossies. Just pixels…
So, here’s where the two thoughts collide. With all of that in mind, how do brands like Jessops stay in business, god bless ‘em? And what exactly are the looters going to do with all the photographic stuff they nicked from these stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester.
E-bay is going to have a tough few weeks!
Posted by Simon Dover
1 comment :
As long as there are still amazing photographers out there like this girl
http://www.hedislimane.com/diary/index.php
Producing beautiful traditional black and white photography, I'm not going to worry.
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