25th March 2013

Issue 11/2013

Thank you Kathy!

The success of any organisation is, in my opinion, directly related to the quality of the people working within that organisation. 

Kathy Warlum has proven that over a number of years.
 
It has been my pleasure to have worked with her, initially at Merit Imports and over more recent years at PMA. 

Her ability to empathise with customers/ members and then act to solve the problem, made her a valuable part of the team.

Kathy has accepted a role at Camera House, and I am sure her strong relationships with so many of their members will again prove to be of great value to her new employer.
 
Personally I am very sorry to see her going, however on the other hand am really pleased to see she is taking the next step in her career.
 
I know John, Lucy, the staff in PMA Jackson, and all Australian members wish you all the very best for the future.
 
Thank you for being "Kathy"! 

(Glynn) Kathy, my job as editor of PMA Australia Newsline was made all the easier with Kathy's help. We'll miss you!

 
Until next week,

Peter Rose 
Director Australian Activities
PMA - The Worldwide Community of Imaging Associations

Your PMA Australia Executive

 National Chairperson

Phil Gresham
philip@fotofast.com.au

Eastern Region TVP

and NSW Chairperson

Mark Alderson

mark.alderson@camerahouse.com.au

WA, SA, NT, QLD TVP

and QLD Chairperson

Andrew Mason 

print@photocontinental.com.au

 TAS Chairperson

John Mullavey

 jandaagencies@netspace.net.au

VIC Chairperson

Jeff Crowley

jeff.crowley@fujifilm.com.au

SA Chairperson

Paul Atkins

paul@atkins.com.au

WA Chairperson

Murray Gibbs

murray@ggch.com.au

Director of Australian Activities

Peter Rose

prose@pmai.org

Australian Directors for PMA

John Paxton

jpaxton@paxtons.com.au 

Len Sandler

len.sandler@starshots.com.au

PPFA Chairperson

Bob Smith

bob@classicframing.com.au

APCI Chairperson

Paul Atkins

paul@atkins.com.au
 

PSPA Chairperson

Paul Dawson

pd@hydrophotographics.com.au

PIEA Chairperson

Earle Bridger

e.bridger@griffith.edu.au

PMA Australia Office

02 9454 2444

pmaaustralia@pmai.org

Editor

Glynn Lavender

pmaaustralia@pmai.org

Yes, sadly it's time to say farewell...but definitely not goodbye. I have enjoyed my time with PMA immensely over the past five and a half years. It has been an absolute privilege to work with Peter, John, Lucy, Glynn  and the PMAI team in the US. They are a dedicated team of professionals who, without sounding altruistic, work for the benefit of the photo industry as a whole; and I have loved being a part of this team.

There are some great personalities in this industry, and some very hard working ones, (especially State and Association Chairpersons) and I have had the privilege of working alongside them in expos, conferences, seminars, quarterly get-togethers, and various other industry functions. It has also been a pleasure assisting and talking to our much-valued PMA members. Thanks to all those interesting members with big stories to share.

Happily, I am not travelling far, and am looking forward to working with my old friends at Camera House, and the opportunities and challenges that come with new beginnings.

Bye for now,

"On my bike" at the US & NZ Antarctic Base Station, Christchurch, March 2013

Adelaide photography business Studio 2000 will soon close its doors after failing to return to a viable level of trading.   

The business was put into administration in November 2011 with a debt of about $3 million and has been trading under a deed of company arrangement for the past 12 months.In a statement on the company's website, director Graham Logan says various strategies were put in place to improve the plight of the business. Administrator Chris Powell says the company was unable to turn things around. "The business traded at a loss during that period. Accordingly, the director and I had agreed that the deed will be discontinued and the formal process for making that happen is under way," he said. "In the meantime, we are continuing to trade albeit on a very much scaled down basis, to complete the existing orders that are on hand and to ensure that customer orders are completed and obviously that debts owing to the company are collected. "There's obviously no further bookings being taken. There's no further photo shoots." 

The Waymouth Street business operated for more than 25 years and employed 70 staff at the time it entered administration, but Mr Powell says only about 15 are still working at the firm. "They have certainly all been paid all their outstanding wages. In terms of their leave and redundancy entitlements, that will be firstly claimed upon the Government scheme," he said. "It will depend on the realisation of the remaining assets as to whether the company will be paying that longer term or whether they'll just have to rely on the Government scheme." 

In 2009 I was fortunate enough to spend a few days in the USA with Phil Gresham at the Buck Rogers meeting (the fortunate bit was the meeting not spending time with Phil!! ).

At that meeting I got to hear from many of the USA's leading retailers talk about their businesses and, more importantly, one man got to talk about his thoughts on the future of the industry.

That man was recent PMA Lifetime Achievement Award winner Ron Inkley.

Ron opened his first store in 1947 and grew that to 20 stores in four US states.

Ron shared with us a paper that gave us his predictions for specialty in 2014.

2014:

• Fewer specialty stores (in the USA in 2009 Ritz were closing 850 stores - now all closed)
• Less hard goods only stores
• Change to destination rather than convenience locations
• Fewer but larger stores drawing from a bigger area
• More accessories in big box stores
• Big box store may set up photo specialty boutique
• Photo books will increase dramatically (but probably mostly through large wholesalers)
• Specialty stores that open custom image dept and charge for creativity will be the most profitable
• Tying bricks and mortar to internet more important than ever

April 30th 2013 marks the twenty fifth anniversary of the opening of World Expo 88 in Brisbane, Queensland. The event ran for six months from 30th April until 30th October 1988.

An Expo is a world's fair, where nations and corporations gather together to review and predict our cultural and technological evolution through exhibitions and demonstrations of their achievement.

The 600 million plus event was fully sanctioned by the bureau of International Expositions based in Paris, and ran with the theme 'leisure in the Age of technology".

World Expo 88 was sread over 40 hectares on the South bank of the Brisbane River, within 800 meters of the CBD. The total attendance for the six-month event was 15,760,000

Hanimex - Fuji as the official suppliers of Film and Cameras to World Expo 88 were responsible for the set up and running of three (3) on site one hour minilabs as well as the photographic media centre.

The onsite official media centre was set up for use by accredited photographers for the duration of World Expo 88. On site processing and printing of black & white and C-41 compatible color negatives was available, while E-6 was processed off site by F-Stop Color Laboratory via regular courier runs organized by the media centre.

Black & white processing and printing was handled at no charge with C-41 and E-6 services made available at tax-free prices. A full range of color and black & white film (as long as it was Fuji) was also available at the sales and service counter.

The Hanimex -Fuji minilabs were operational from 30.04.1988 to 30.10.1988 a total of 184 working days, during this time three minilabs processed in excess of 74.000 rolls. The hours of operation were 10:00 to 22:00 (these hours were laid down as part of the agreement with World Expo 88 and could not be altered.

Each outlet (with the exception of the Media Centre) was very small - only16m2. In this space room was made to fit film and paper processors, counters, two cash registers, paper/chemistry, stock,drums for photographic effluent and the most important ingredient up to five (5) staff members at any one time.

Of the three on site minilabs one K420 handled almost 60% (44,000) of all rolls processed and sold in excess of 100,000 rolls of films.

World Expo 88 saw the introduction of the Fuji Quicksnap with over 5000 processed in around three (3) months.

Some interesting numbers from World Expo 88

• 80 - the percentage of rolls that were 100 iso
• 61 - the percentage of rolls that were 24exp
• 74 - the percentage of customers that could either load or unload film from  135mm cameras.
• 300,000 - the number of season passes sold all bearing the message "Image by Fuji Film
• 0.8 - the percentage of sales that required a credit card transaction
• 7 - the percentage of rolls processed with a second set of prints
• 22.6 - the average number of frames per film
• 2.4 the percentage of reversal rolls processed
• 1.3 the percentage of rolls that were blank

We processed 118.5 klms of film and produced enough 4" x 6" prints to cover the Sydney Opera House more than twice.

MEDIA RELEASE

19th March 2013

New Digital SLR Pocket Guide is a straight-shooter

In her latest Digital SLR Pocket Guide, author Margaret Brown has written the definitive text for anyone from absolute beginner through to the knowledgeable enthusiast on what counts when using a digital SLR camera.

To read the media release click here