MB: For 28 years you have seen the industry change. How has the digital transformation of the industry affected Photoworks SF and how have you evolved with it?

DH: When digital hit, it was like an earthquake. At first, we held our ground and I rejected the whole notion as a fad. I even made a t-shirt that said "digital smigital". One shop I knew of immediately went high tech, spent a fortune doing so, and went broke. Digital was daunting and expensive and I thought I should stick to what I know. I hate not being an expert, and in the early days, digital was too much of a grey area with too many people figuring it out on the fly. I remember when some kid came back from Burning Man with a bunch of digital files to print. He said to me, "Hey Man, digies in the future and you better get with it". At that moment I knew that in some way, it was a fad that would eventually top out to some extent.

The advent of online printing really hurt us too. We lost a ton of wedding business to a company founded in 2004, called Pictage, that was able to give photographer's websites to preview and print images online. So they clients stopped printing with us and that hurt us badly. We had some lean times but survived it by ironically adding our own digital printing when the time was right. I transitioned into the digital realm very slowly, but it was difficult at first, as no one knew how to print digital files. I hired some tech people, but that was a mistake as they only knew computers. We tried for a while to emulate them and built a similar system, but eventually abandoned the concept. I made a decision to hold on to our analog equipment for as long as possible, but the machines were hard to maintain, and the vendors stopped making parts. Even the darkrooms dried up.

Gradually we upgraded to digital printers, but the key thing is that we always kept the film machines running, and our printers still using silver halide chemicals. Even today, our customer’s prints made from digital files are processed through traditional photo chemicals. I try to explain to people that we make silver halide photo prints and some people dig it, but some don’t care. I still use it as a selling point though: I say " that if you can smell chemicals, then you are in the right place.” Of course, we finally added an online store to make uploading files and purchasing prints pretty easy and that is working well for us. Nowadays, we welcome all types of media, and provide all types of products made from film and digital, it does not matter the source as long as the end products are there, be they photo prints, metal prints, wood prints, and/or custom framing.

MB: Many people have noticed a resurgence of film photography, especially on social media. Have you noticed the same? How has the recent craze been advantageous to PhotoWorks SF with hashtags like “believe in film” and “print your work”?

DH: Film never went away, it was just discovered by a younger crowd who grew up on tech. Instagram, with it's early "film" filters, it sparked something in people wanting to know the source of that film look. So began the whole ironic "I'm new to film" craze. All these hashtags make me laugh, like the hashtag, "believe in film". Most of my peers never really stopped believing. Though it has become a rallying cry, to me, it's just like any other art form. Though I can't say that I'm a fan of what social media has done to photography, I think the youth are embracing something special, and in some ways have brought back the whole film industry, so I go out of my way to be helpful and teach where I can.

I think the new shooters feel like they are part of something special, and they are keeping analog going in a world of digital overload. I'd like to think that the new shooter wants to "slow it down" in contrast to their hectic lifestyle, film makes you calmer and takes patience. I would also give the new analog shooters some credit for wanting to learn and appreciate the process. To me and I guess many others, "instant gratification" is an oxymoron. It seems to me that you need to make more than a 10-second effort to be gratified. There is a magical quality in the process much like vinyl records, you can feel the art when it’s tactile. There is nothing like holding something in your hand, the tactile sensation of an image on photo paper, even an image on inkjet paper, is a beautiful thing. I print my own work and proudly display it in my home. To be corny, you need to leave behind a physical record of your work; your images, it's your life. I have shot Polaroids of my kids since they were born (13 years now), and I have a wall in my house of their life progression. I could not live without it.

MB: What are your thoughts on the reinvention of Polaroid and the popularity of Lomography?

DH: I feel some kinship with the Impossible (now Polaroid Originals) folks because for years I struggled to maintain old film printing equipment. Our lab used to be all Agfa analog printing machines, the look of the prints from those machines helped put our shop on the map. One day without warning, Agfa went under, and we were stuck with a bunch of old printers and no support. I hired technicians to keep the machines going, but over the years parts vanished and eventually I gave up. Like every other photo lab, we bought new equipment. We still print from negatives but not before they are scanned first. You still see film grain, but it’s just not quite the same thing. When The Impossible Project was just starting we were a testing ground for their new films. Now that Polaroid is more or less back, I try and get my friends and anyone who will listen to dust off those old SX 70 cameras. Though Polaroid Originals could make these cameras a bit more affordable, as they were never intended to be so expensive, I would say they are keeping their roots. However, one thing that bugs me is that they can't resist marketing to the Urban Outfitters crowd. Urban Outfitters has decided Polaroid is cool, and so they sell it. Personally, I think teenagers should shoot Instax mini.

Lomography, on the other hand, has done some brilliant marketing and they make the great LCA camera. I can also say their 800 ISO film is a nice product. No one has branded analog as Lomography has and they deserve a ton of credit in my own opinion. Some say they are over the top, but I think people respond to their inventive films, which by the way, are now being copied by lots of homegrown small companies.