The Evolution of a Family Camera Store, with Roui Kamienowicz, Samy's Camera

Roui Kamienowicz experienced a life-changing shift from the world of law to the vibrant realm of photography, and she's here to share that story with us. Her journey from a career in law to leading Samy's Camera in Los Angeles is as inspiring as it is insightful, beginning with a transformative photo workshop in Death Valley and culminating in her passionate drive to evolve the family business. Kamienowicz not only carries the legacy of her parent's venture, which began in 1976, but also amplifies it through innovative photography education initiatives that stretch from Cuba to Alaska. 

Join us as we unravel the shifts in the media landscape that impact photography and retail. Discover how Samy's Camera adapts to the rise of social media, leveraging platforms like TikTok and YouTube to connect with new audiences and reinvigorate their community presence. Kamienowicz offers candid insights into the resurgence of film photography and the renewed interest in classic formats among younger generations and soon-to-be-wed couples. We also navigate the challenges Samy's Camera faces, from California's retail hurdles to maintaining a strong physical store while embracing the digital era. This episode is a tribute to resilience, adaptation, and the enduring appeal of photography in all its forms.

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Transcript

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Sammy's Camera and Photo Education

Erin Manning 0:12

Welcome to the Dead Pixel Society podcast , the photo imaging industry's leading news source . Here's your host , Gary Pageau . The Dead Pixels Society podcast is brought to you by Medialip , Advertag Printing, and Independent Photo Imagers .

Gary Pageau 0:31

Hello again and welcome to the Dead Pixels Society podcast . I'm your host , Gary Pageau , and today we're joined by Roui Kamienowicz , who is the COO of Samy's Camera in Los Angeles , California . Hi , how are you today , Roui ?

Roui Kamienowicz 0:43

Great Thanks for having me .

Gary Pageau 0:45

So for the 12 people who aren't familiar with Samy's Camera , can you talk a little bit about the company and the journey ?

Roui Kamienowicz 0:53

Yeah , of course . My father , Samy , started the business in 1976 with one location in Los Angeles and eventually grew to several locations . We're now in four locations , and it's a photo , video , content creator , playground , candy store , whatever . What have you in Southern California ?

Gary Pageau 1:16

And you do some rental work too , so you're like a big rental house for that area as well , correct ?

Roui Kamienowicz 1:20

Yeah , we provide rental services , we have a photo school , we do repairs or sort of the soup to nuts when it comes to photography and cinema .

Gary Pageau 1:32

So you haven't always been with the company you know , went to school , went away and were a lawyer for some years . Tell us a little bit about how you started in the legal profession but then got into the photo industry , that's an unusual path .

Roui Kamienowicz 1:43

Yeah , definitely . Growing up , my parents encouraged my sister and I to explore our interests and seek education . So I had a passion for environmental conservation and policy . So I went to UCLA , got a degree in environmental policy and then went off and studied law at Harvard and graduated and then practiced law for a few years .

Roui Kamienowicz 2:06

Then I had a family , had a few kids , and one thing led to another and I was invited by my parents to go to Death Valley because one of their associates was putting on a photo workshop for customers and people in the field . So I took my daughter , who was only two months old at the time , and we headed out to Death Valley and I was just like so enthralled by what was going on and there were early morning shoots on the dunes and sunset shoots and it was sort of the mix of what I loved about environmental activism along with the photography aspect , and so after that I kept suggesting different workshops for Samy's to do and at some point my dad just said why don't you just take over the school and do what you want to do with it ? Because at that point I wasn't practicing law .

Roui Kamienowicz 2:55

And that's what . Where I launched my career at Samy's was working in the photo school .

Gary Pageau 3:00

Prior to that , were you interested in photography at all ? Or was it one of those things where it's like it was always around Because you were in the business but you weren't ? Did you ever pick up a camera and take pictures ? Or was it the Death Valley experience specifically , that pick up a ?

Roui Kamienowicz 3:14

camera and take pictures , or was it the death valley experience specifically that I did ? I always had a camera with me on vacations . I I still have pictures back from growing up and I have many photo albums . I didn't get into um more of the art of photography until I was actually in law school and I took a class locally at one of the schools just a film photography class and we developed film , the dark room .

Roui Kamienowicz 3:33

Um , then I started taking photos on some of my backpacking trips , but it was never kind of related to the retail store , it was just as a hobby and growing up we my sister and I would often go to the store and we would try to help out or work . And I always found it very complicated either to work at the film department or rentals because you had to have so much knowledge . So I always ended up working in the accounting office , filing or doing something like that . So it was a bit daunting . But my daughter , who's 17 , has now no problem going down to the film counter and she works there in the summer and on holidays . So I'm very proud of her because she seems to have no problem with all of the information you need to know when it comes to film photography .

Gary Pageau 4:21

So talk a little bit about the school aspect , because I think that's an area where especially the camera stores and the photo retailers can really distinguish themselves as a community member and as a resource and as an obviously a way to get people excited about gear which they hopefully then will purchase at Samy's .

Roui Kamienowicz 4:41

Well , it's my favorite topic and it's my passion . So now that I've taken over COO , it's almost like I wish I could have more time doing my photo school stuff , because it's what I love doing . But , to answer your question , so it started off as a pretty well developed program . We offer we still do , we offer classes in all of our classrooms . We do stuff from post-processing like Adobe Photoshop , lightroom and do Capture One , and then we have the basic classes of how to use my camera , and so our instructor base and our schedule is pretty well built out .

Roui Kamienowicz 5:14

But what I brought and what my passion was was taking people outside of the classroom into the field . So I wanted to go and shoot wildlife and go to places like Cuba , and so what I did was I really built the program with our vendor partners as well as outside instructors , and back in 2017 , we took 30 students over to Cuba with Colby Brown through a Sony-sponsored workshop . I started working with people and we took people to Fairbanks , alaska , shooting Northern Lights , went down to San Miguel de Allende and shot portrait and street photography . So that was , and still is , my passion , and I love doing that .

Gary Pageau 6:04

On those kind of experiences ? What kind of groups were you bringing ? Like was it so ?

Roui Kamienowicz 6:08

that was and still is my passion and I love doing that . Foremost , it is a boutique travel experience . Good point um . Cuba was the largest trip and I didn't expect it to be that large , but people just kept being added because it was such an exciting it was kind of unusual at that time I mean 2017 it didn't it kind of just kind of open up around yeah kind of opened up a bit .

Roui Kamienowicz 6:26

Um , so people just wanted to go , because it's kind of hard to go on your own , and so we ended up with 30 people , which was was a bit of a challenge , but it was great . But I typically like to keep groups small , so under 12 .

Gary Pageau 6:38

On the smaller trips , what's kind of your go-to place ?

Roui Kamienowicz 6:42

I love exploring the Arctic these days . I just went on a competitor not a competitor , but a partner who runs workshops as well . We went to Church Hill , Canada , and I was actually an attendee on their trip . So that was great , because I'm really starting to love wildlife photography . But I am in the works , planning two trips to the Arctic , one to Antarctica and probably up to Canada , baffin Bay or Greenland some area like that .

Roui Kamienowicz 7:08

So keep yourself posted on exciting . I still . I've just got an email with the proposed itinerary , so that should be really exciting . And then we're looking at 2025 , of course .

Gary Pageau 7:20

for those , Now for something like that . Are you handling all the logistics yourself , or do you have like a travel partner for a lot of that ? Or ?

Roui Kamienowicz 7:28

sometimes I do all the logistics and I I scout out the hotels and I pick all of those things and I rent the car and I and we did a couple workshops in um in New Mexico , whereas I was actually the bus driver .

Gary Pageau 7:40

So I rented the car , I took the bus , you have a special license for that , or did you just ?

Roui Kamienowicz 7:46

it was a 15 passenger van you do not need a special license . I drove the bus , I picked the music and , uh , picked restaurants . It was great because by doing that like I really had ownership on the whole trip and curated the way , that I thought it would be amazing and I got wonderful feedback . But that was a smaller trip and it wasn't so many days and it was very doable . But for the one I'm doing in the Antarctic , that was sort of a serendipitous situation where I just seen , actually just asked me about the pro show in the airportctic .

Roui Kamienowicz 8:14

That was sort of a serendipitous situation where I just seen , actually just asked me about the pro show in the airport in Indianapolis and I'm walking through the airport and I see these beautiful photos of Antarctica and I'm thinking I need to get to Antarctica , we need to do a workshop . So I go to Samy's and I'm there for a store meeting and I'm talking to one of the customers afterwards . I said so what do you shoot ? He goes well , I'm an expedition guide in Antarctica . So I said , oh , okay , would you like to put together a workshop for us ? And he said sure , and he said I work with this woman and you know I lived near her not too long ago and her name is Laura Greer and I said , well , she's my friend , and so it just it kind of came together in a really interesting way .

Roui Kamienowicz 8:52

So we just met last week . They're putting together the proposal , so he's going to be . He basically is an independent contractor for a lot of different boats who do photography in Antarctica , so he is boots on the ground , he knows the best boats to go on , he knows the best times of the year , he knows what wildlife you're going to see , where and when , and so he's a true expert . And that's what I look for . I look for someone not necessarily on their photography skills , although that's important . It's more so knowing the area of where you're going to shoot which .

Roui Kamienowicz 9:24

I find really , really important , like being super familiar with that , and then you know the skills will come . And I've seen his work and he's an excellent photographer as well .

Gary Pageau 9:33

I imagine that'd be kind of disappointing , like I'm sure you've seen those kind of safari things in movies where it's kind of a joke , where they drive through the thing and you know and there's no animals , right . You know that would be like the worst thing possible , you know , to go on an experience like that and not actually see the wildlife you came there to see .

Roui Kamienowicz 9:52

Yeah , exactly . Well . So I said well , I heard , I heard Norwegian Cruise Lines does Antarctica trips . Because we're actually a partner with Norwegian Cruise Lines , we provide them all their cameras they sell in their gift shops , which is great . And so he did some research and he said you know , they're not even landing in places where you can see wildlife , they're just going from port to port . This is not going to be an ideal trip for a photographer , so that's really important information Now that you wouldn't necessarily know if you didn't , if you weren't familiar and had experience .

Gary Pageau 10:43

So let's talk a little bit about kind of the synergy between the school and the stores . Do you do any local events for people who maybe can't take three or four weeks to go to Antarctica ?

Roui Kamienowicz 10:55

Oh , definitely Like . 95% of our classes are local . So we have a classroom in all of our locations and primarily , we're teaching basics on how to use your camera , basics of digital photography we just added in a film photography class as well and then we work with our vendor partners on offering classes on how do I use my Sony , how do I use my Canon . So that's really nice and it's it's an added benefit and something that distinguishes us from being , you know , buying on Amazon or online somewhere else , and we have this resource where you can come to Samy's and you can learn how to use your camera for free . So that's a nice option and we also have . If you do want to do like a local safari , we are . Do want to do like a local safari , we are . We offer wildlife classes all around here as well . So we have uh steve ball coming in from om systems and he's going to be teaching down in orange county going out to bolsa chica .

Roui Kamienowicz 11:47

So , um , they're not as frequent , but we do offer them and they're fun . And another . Another area that is a huge interest of mine is astrophotography . So we often offer those . We just had a couple during the summer out in the Bishop area .

Gary Pageau 12:02

I miss astrophotography in Antarctica .

Roui Kamienowicz 12:04

It's going to be crazy because there's no For the Northern Lights or Southern Lights , yep , definitely .

Gary Pageau 12:10

No light pollution there . So you mentioned a phrase earlier content creator , right , that's sort of a new phrase that's been cropping up , like when I go to pro or different areas to talk to different people , they mention that phrase . How is that customer different than a traditional photographer ? Is it because they're just like self-publishing or they're doing more video ? What do you think makes them different ?

Roui Kamienowicz 12:36

I think it's the evolution of where photography has gone so traditionally . When I was growing up and Samy's was starting , or , you know , in full swing , I think we were a huge resource for commercial photographers and working professionals who were being hired for , you know , fashion shoots , let's say , or commercial work . And now , because of the change in how everybody consumes media , and marketing .

Roui Kamienowicz 13:07

I mean for

Changing Media Landscape in Photography

Roui Kamienowicz 13:07

example , we used to advertise in the LA Times , and that was exclusively what we do . We don't do that anymore . People aren't reading newspapers . They're consuming social media . They're consuming TikTok and YouTube , and so the shift has made it so that what's being put out there is by influencers that's how we're marketing these days and by people's posts , and so I look at it more in just a shift of the way people are consuming their media .

Gary Pageau 13:35

Now you're dealing with things like , you know , microphones and mobile lights and all these kind of weird attachments that kind of get on things . I mean , you know , you see the content creator crowd , they got these weird rigs with the you know it . Just , it's kind of it seems like everybody's doing it . They know there's all . It's a it's a very broad demographic .

Roui Kamienowicz 13:53

Yeah , it's much more accessible these days to everyday person .

Gary Pageau 13:58

Do you think it's expanded beyond ? Expanded the Samy's customer base ? Yeah , definitely .

Roui Kamienowicz 14:05

Definitely , and the way we're seeing that is mostly through like , for example , panasonic came over a month ago and brought in one of their ambassadors who does toy photography , and so we saw the most people . The way most people heard about this workshop was through his own social media posts .

Roui Kamienowicz 14:25

So we had the workshop and he posted on his social media about the workshop and we polled people who came and they had mostly heard about the workshop through Isaiah . Okay , it's a great way for us to reach out to those who wouldn't know we're there because they hadn't thought of going to a camera store .

Gary Pageau 14:42

Right .

Roui Kamienowicz 14:43

That maybe age and demographic . Don't even know we're around or that's something that exists .

Gary Pageau 14:48

Well , you have to constantly , I guess , kind of be refreshing yourself in front of customers , right , because you used to be able to . Like you said , the LA Times is institutional . You're going to do institutional advertising . Yeah , very much . Let's talk about the family business side of it . There's a lot of businesses in the photo industry who have gone into second and third generations . Right now You're a second generation person coming in .

Roui Kamienowicz 15:09

What is that like , taking the experience from your parents , who have established this icon in that community , and having to carry that forward I think it's a it's amazing , and I'm very grateful for the legacy that my parents built , because it wasn't just my dad , it was also my mother , who's kind of silent , but behind the scenes , um . So it's an honor , it's , it's wonderful and it's it's very fulfilling I mean it's not to live up to in a license .

Gary Pageau 15:35

I mean , I've done a lot of the reading over the years about some of the works that Samy's been involved in the community with exhibitions and things like that and there's a lot there . There's always that feeling they were giving back to the community and being a part of the community , which I think has kind of kept the company going .

Roui Kamienowicz 15:52

Yeah , definitely , and on a lower micro level as well . Yeah , definitely , and on a lower micro level as well . And when we had the memorial for Samy , people talk and so many stories about how Samy really helped the careers , helped launch careers because of his assistance and because he knew maybe someone needed to have a piece of gear that they couldn't afford and he took a chance out on them . So not just being involved in community events , but being grassroots .

Gary Pageau 16:17

I remember I was reading it when Samy passed . I had read some of the obituaries and some of the statements people were making and there were a lot of those heartfelt things . I needed a body and Samy loan it . I think that's how the rental business started , wasn't ? It Was because he loaned people equipment .

Roui Kamienowicz 16:33

It might be . I honestly don't know .

Gary Pageau 16:35

Going forward . It's interesting you mentioned film photography , which is something three or four years ago , if you would have told me , I'd go to a PRO or an IPI conference and I would see people talking about film processing like it was something new . Why do you think there is these sort of classic formats that don't ever seem to go away ? I think it's driven from younger that that don't ever seem to go away I think it's driven from younger generations that aren't familiar with film and so to them it's a novelty and it's not .

Roui Kamienowicz 17:04

It's just something that's so different . And you know , something we grew up with like oh , that's , that's like old-fashioned . But for them that's like , oh , that's so exciting . You know , you don't get to see your picture until it's until it's developed , and I get to pay how much for the film and how much for the developing , and it's just and I'm a real photographer .

Gary Pageau 17:22

Right when you go to Antarctica , you're going to bring you know , bricks of film and uh oh . I don't shoot film . Most people I've noticed are over a certain age . Now I'm going to say you're over 30 , don't shoot film .

Roui Kamienowicz 17:34

But but

Retail Challenges and Industry Trends

Roui Kamienowicz 17:35

you know , then again , one of my favorite instructors who shoots Astro and he's a surf photographer . He's so excited because he's looking at medium and large format . So , I don't know . For him it's sort of like avant-garde too . Now he's seeing the kids are into it , so he wants to be , you know , like up on what's hot and trendy . I'm not sure why he's into it , but I can only guess .

Gary Pageau 17:58

Well , and I you know , when I talk to people in the wedding market , brides are putting in the quote I want film as part of the thing . So people got to carry around an old film .

Roui Kamienowicz 18:06

Oh , that's funny . Yeah , I didn't know that .

Gary Pageau 18:08

Yeah , and even like specifying , it's got to be black and white . You know you can make a digital image black and white . Just press the button and there you go , the single use cameras as well . That's never going away . It doesn't seem like you know you've got three locations and you've got a big online presence . Do you think you're going to expand geographically beyond your area , or is you kind of think that's where you're going to stay ?

Roui Kamienowicz 18:34

But then we're going to stay like that for the near future .

Gary Pageau 18:38

Yeah , because physical retail is a challenge these days .

Roui Kamienowicz 18:41

It's a huge challenge , especially in California . Where are you located ?

Gary Pageau 18:47

I'm in Michigan , okay .

Roui Kamienowicz 18:49

Yeah , it's been very difficult recently with some changes in policy in terms of petty theft and what people are being arrested for and also , you know , bail issues . So we see people just coming in and grabbing things and walking out and knowing that they won't be arrested and they won't be charged . So it's a really , really difficult climate to be doing this .

Gary Pageau 19:11

I would be thinking , though , that's gonna have to be revisited , right ? Because ?

Roui Kamienowicz 19:15

well , there's a very important race right now for a district attorney .

Gary Pageau 19:20

Well , we don't want to get into a political discussion , but I'm just curious about you know the place in a company's business for ?

Roui Kamienowicz 19:27

Well , it's an important discussion for all business owners . You know , politics are what they are , but they're very important when it comes to trying to run a business Right .

Gary Pageau 19:34

Oh , certainly , because that does dictate your climate . I mean , you hear about people moving from California and doing different things . I don't know if you ever want to abandon California , clearly , but I think it's an important I think people are abandoning California , especially the film industry and the Hollywood industry . Yeah .

Roui Kamienowicz 19:51

And that's a huge part of our business . So you know , shoots , moving out of the state and out of the country and strikes and things like that has it has had a huge impact on Samy's in the past year well , I imagine .

Gary Pageau 20:03

I mean people have been relocating up to uh , Canada for a lot of years now Atlanta and south africa and uh the uk it's cheaper now to to shoot in the uk than it is in LA , is what I hear .

Gary Pageau 20:19

Really I'm surprised by that . And also Atlanta , of course , has got a big film business and here in Michigan they've always talked about . Let's talk a little bit about kind of the retail versus online dynamics , right , because I think part of being a retailer is you want the online business , obviously , but you just want to get people in the store , yeah , definitely , and the primary .

Roui Kamienowicz 20:41

Our primary business is done in our brick and mortar stores .

Gary Pageau 20:44

But you have to have online presence yeah , so okay , because I mean , I you know , you talk to different retailers around and it's almost in some of them it's , you know , it's 50 , 50 yeah , it's not for us . Do you have merchandise in the stores that's not available online , that people know ?

Roui Kamienowicz 20:58

Yes , definitely A lot of the used and collectibles .

Gary Pageau 21:01

Oh , you don't need to go .

Roui Kamienowicz 21:01

So the way it works is any sort of used and collectibles that comes into the store , stays in the store and doesn't go online . We do get some stuff from , let's say , the internet or people want to trade stuff in that's in our warehouse that we put up online . But there'll be stuff in the store that you won't see on our website .

Gary Pageau 21:19

And so do you promote that as a feature , like a in-store only experience ?

Roui Kamienowicz 21:25

I go around to our stores and let everyone know if there's something that you have it's a really cool piece I'll put up on social media , so send me a little B-roll of it or photos , and otherwise we're not advertising it . So , but you know we have a lot of foot traffic in that . We'll see these items .

Gary Pageau 21:41

So is there still the foot traffic with the work from home situation Cause I know that you know where you're located there was a lot of the you know business area you know people would do . Are you still seeing that ?

Roui Kamienowicz 21:53

Yeah , definitely Good .

Gary Pageau 21:55

Good .

Roui Kamienowicz 21:55

Yeah .

Gary Pageau 21:59

Because that's one of the challenges that I think a lot of people are wrestling with now in just business these days is the . You know , return to work . You know work from home dynamic . It's got a big challenge . Well awesome . It's been great talking to you . I really appreciate your time and your passion for the business . It's always great to see business having the kids come in and continue the growth and bring new ideas .

Roui Kamienowicz 22:21

So thank you so much . This has been really fun . Thank you , Gary .

Gary Pageau 22:24

Thank you , take care .

Roui Kamienowicz 22:25

All right , you too Take care .

Erin Manning 22:29

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