The Story Behind…
“The Bob’s superstore camera department staff”
Photographed at Bob’s superstore in Kearney, nebraska, summer 1990
The Greatest High School Job Ever
Kearney, Nebraska, is a simple town that sits more or less in the middle of Buffalo County, which sits more or less in the middle of Nebraska, which sits more or less in the middle of America. Kearney is the county seat, and, with 25,000 people, it is the largest community in Buffalo County. As a matter of fact, it is the fourth largest town in Nebraska, behind Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Island.
As such, Kearney was, and still is, the hub of activity for central Nebraska. And in the 1970’s and 1980’s, long before we had a mall or a Wal Mart, Kearney had Bob’s Superstore.
Bob’s was a sprawling store in more or less the middle of town. Bob’s was Kearney’s five and dime department store. Its core business was its grocery store and butcher shop for the town.
However, while the Grocery Department and Meat Department took up the front 60% of the building, the back half contained the Floral Department, the Fabric Department, the Craft Department, the Hardware Department, and, closest to my heart, the Camera Department.
As those who know me well will tell you, I am quite open about my faith and what I believe to be divine intervention and even miracles in my life and those of some of the most important people in my life. I am excited to share some of these experiences with you in the pages of this book.
I believe that my high school job, which I’ve always believed was the greatest job ever, perhaps had divine intervention. I would rather believe that than it was fate or simply luck.
Whatever the case, Bob’s Super Store Camera Department provided me, a fledgling photographer, with invaluable knowledge and skills that came from working in a one-hour photo lab.
I had returned home from Australia with a bag of film, and when I went to Bob’s to drop them off to get developed, I learned that they were hiring! I interviewed with Ron Larsen, the Camera Department Manager, and was hired. A few months later, my friend from school, Tim Skrastins, asked me if he thought Mr. Larsen would hire him. I asked Mr. Larsen, put in a good word for Tim, and soon, the two of us were working together.
Looking back on the experience now, as I write this, 35 years later, I believe there was some sort of divine intervention because I can say there were three distinct things that Bob’s brought into my life.
First, I learned all about consumer photographic film, mostly 35 millimeter, along with 110 film and disc camera film for amateur shutterbugs and 120 film and pro-packs (boxes containing five rolls which we kept in a special refrigerator for our professional wedding and portrait photographer customers).
More than just film types and the difference between negative and positive (slide) film, I was learning the nuances and differences in film brands like Kodak and Fuji. In the process of developing customers’ pictures, I learned what makes good – and not so good – pictures. During the process of packaging up customers 4x6” pictures – with free double prints on Tuesdays - I looked at tens of thousands of pictures of family vacations, holidays, youth sports, family reunions, pets and the day-to-day minutia of life that people take pictures of.
I learned to diagnose the reasons a customer’s pictures didn’t turn out very good, which is very helpful skill when they were yelling and cursing at me because their family photos from their once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii not turned out!
These reasons included not loading the film correctly, using the wrong film for the situation, not removing the lens cover, putting a finger in front of the lens, not focusing the lens or exposing the film correctly or not using the flash correctly. Although there were a few times the machines we used to develop the film and print the pictures were at fault, most of the time it was the customer’s fault and I learned how to calmly explain this to furious customers.
Second, as the name implies, Bob’s Camera Department also sold cameras, along with lenses, flashes and photo accessories. Bob’s was much more than a one-hour photo hut that had a drive-through window. It was the largest camera store between Omaha and Denver. So, in addition to learning all I could about processing film and printing pictures, I was also learning about everything from cameras to customer service to selling on commission from Mayor Ron.
We affectionally called our boss Mayor Ron, because he was actually the Mayor of Kearney, and it was a lot of fun saying we worked for “The Mayor!”
Following Mayor Ron’s direct instructions, we would take the cameras out of the display cases and outside to the store parking lot (and sometimes even home overnight) with several rolls of film to take pictures and learn what the different camera bodies, lenses and film brands and ISO speeds would do. Mayor Ron wanted us to be totally comfortable and familiar with what we were selling so that we could be the best salespeople possible.
Customer Service was drilled into us, and to be able to serve our customers and get them the correct camera for their needs we needed to be familiar and fluent with everything we sold. We got to play with, experiment with and learn every button and feature of every new camera, lens or accessory that we offered for sale.
After experimenting with the cameras, we would process the film and see the results right away. Well, not right away like today, where you can see your pictures immediately after taking them on any number of devices, cameras, or devices with cameras.
Back then, we got to see our results about an hour after we started the developing and printing process. That was why they were called “One Hour Photo Labs”.
I was seeping myself in priceless knowledge of cameras and film, and what makes a good - and poor - photo with every roll of film I stocked, sold, or developed.
Finally, and most importantly, Bob’s provided the arena for the beginnings of two of the closest and most important friendships I would have in life, with Tim Skrastins and Arlen Little.
Bob’s Super Store Camera Department was where my friend from high school Tim, aka “Skratch”, became my Best Friend from high school.
And Bob’s is where Tim and I would meet the one and only Arlen Little, a college student at UNK and an Army veteran who would befriend us, mere high school seniors.
The spark that lit the flame of a lifetime of photographic experiences exploded into existence with our experiences at Bob’s. These experiences translated into friendships that transformed into brotherhood.
A life-long, inseparable bond between Tim, Arlen and me was forged behind the counter of Bob’s, where, from 1988 through 1994, in addition to developing film and selling cameras, we and the other staff of the camera department also rented VHS movies - there was no Blockbuster Video in Kearney, so people rented their movies from Bob’s; we sent and received faxes for customers – there was no Kinkos back then; we cut keys; we rented Rug Doctor steam vacuums (and cleaned them after people returned them, an utterly disgusting task); we covered the Floral and Framing Departments when those people took their breaks, since they were right next to the camera department; and we sold money orders – there was no PayPal or Venmo back then and people used money orders to pay for everything from rent to bills.
It was at Bob’s where my passion for photography took root and took hold of my life. Add to that Tim and Arlen coming into my life and the three of us discovering the magic of photography together…. it was a magical time.
I was getting paid to play and learn, a valuable lesson that I have tried to implement my whole life.
I was working in a popular environment. Bob’s was a community center for decades, people of all ages and from all around Central Nebraska came to shop there.
So many early photo opportunities came to me from just being employed at Bob’s:
• We would take our cameras out to the lakes around town where college girls would be sunbathing and get them to pose for us!
• Bob’s had a machine to make 8x10 enlargements, called Kodak Create A Print, and we would rush back to the store, develop our film, print our pictures, make 8x10” prints of the best ones, pay for these prints out of our paychecks, and rush back out to the lakes after work to sell them!
• Using photography gear we that we researched, played with and purchased through Bob’s, we built a photo studio in Arlen’s two-bedroom mobile home. He lived alone and we created a studio in his spare bedroom, and college girls would come there and model for us. Have I mentioned Tim and I thought he was the coolest guy we knew?!?
• We started doing our first portrait sessions for some of Bob’s regular customers who would hire us because we worked there!
• Tim and I booked our first wedding from a Bob’s customer! I remember we took 10 rolls of 36 exposure film to the wedding. That equaled 360 pictures. 20 years later when Tim and I would photograph weddings with digital cameras, it was easy for each of us to take over 3,000 pictures during a wedding and deliver over 360 final images to the bride and groom. And I’m remembering now it was a lot easier to edit that first wedding. But it is a lot more satisfying to be able to capture every detail, every moment, and be able to not stop taking pictures out of fear of running out of film.
I learned customer service and punctuality from Mayor Ron. Our dress code was a dress shirt and tie, dress slacks – never jeans! - and this was a habit that got ingrained in me until, thankfully, business casual dress codes did away with ties. I wore a tie every day I worked at Bobs.
I learned how to work the dreaded Close / Open shifts. Friday nights from 5:00 after getting done with school to Close (11:00 pm), and then be back in the store to turn on the machines and lights at 8:00 am to be ready for customers at 9:00am, and work from 8:00am to 5:00 pm. Sometimes I would even work a Sunday afternoon from noon to 5:00 or from 5:00 to 9:00pm.
Mayor Ron instilled many good qualities in us that I am thankful for to this day. By hiring me, Tim and Arlen, bringing us together and giving us a sandbox to play in every day while we got paid, he provided me with the greatest High School Job ever!
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