All right, so used bookstores are off the list. How about photography shops? I have no desire to shop at Best Buy — stores that try to pull fast ones on their customers don’t appeal to me — and I always prefer to support the local businesses.

So Richmond Camera it is, a local shop. Good news: It’s local and it’s close by. Better news: A very friendly staff who also seem to know what they’re doing. (Contrast any big-box shop where all the sales drones know how to do is recommend something pricier.)

Bad news: Limited selection, at least in the West End branch. There’s a whole wall dedicated to darkroom stuff, but only three or four tripods (and no monopods, which is what I was looking for). I asked about the darkroom stuff — does anyone buy it? Yep, but almost all of it’s sold to photography students and their teachers these days, where "darkroom" means "Photoshop."

Which begs the question: Why are they still teaching darkroom techniques? The basics in photography are in the exposure — learning how shutter speed and aperture affect things, how to make a good composition, working with light and color, etc. Darkroom work is strictly chemistry; you don’t really learn anything about photography by doing it. (Well, you do learn why Photoshop uses certain terms, like "dodge" and "burn.")

I’d've loved to see a whole wall dedicated to light meters, studio equipment, reflectors, bounce boxes, and so on — stuff that aspiring photogs can actually use and that teaches them the science behind the images. Maybe another time.

Mundanely yours,

Andrew