The Best Of Times: My friend Shawn and I would be getting together for a long lunch and some serious camera talk. We've been covering each other's backs since 1979 when he became the third teacher at the mixed level classroom at a elementary school near San Mateo. When not talking about student performance issues, we discussed photography, cameras. and darkroom techniques. Through the years, we had many adventures that almost always included a trip to a camera store or favorite lunch counter. Our accidental encounter at a Palo Alto alter to photography (a.k.a. Keeble and Shuchat) lead me to adopt Domke F-2 as the Official Tom Jung Camera Bag.
The Worst Of Times: News leaked out that Kaufmann's Cameras would be closing forever. I remember that the flagship store was in Stonestown, a shopping center near the San Francisco / Daly City border in the early 1970s. While Al was the senior driving force in San Francisco, his two sons, Warren and Ronald, would be my contacts when the store was on 25th Avenue in San Mateo, and again when they were forced to move to its final location in San Bruno. The store was a must visit because you never knew what might appear on the shelves. For example, my favored camera bag of the time, the Vanguard Veo 37, eventually wore out and was no longer in production when I sought a replacement. I made do with other bags until, low and behold, I found a new-old-stock Veo 37 on one of Kaufmann's shelves. My credit card almost melted from the speed with which I extracted my credit card, and my new bag will eventually house my Sony A7 and some additional lenses when I finally decide to take the camera more seriously. Into every life a little joy must fall, that the day I received more than just a sprinkle.
A Dirge To Customer Service: I remember one specific incident where I was in desperate need of both a Nikon D90 body and a Nikon SB900 speedlight. I knew that the staff was very particular about checking the merchandise before it left the store, so before I left San Francisco, I called the store with a simple request:
"Hi, this is Tom Jung. You might not know my name, but you'll recognize me as soon as I walk in the store. I'm in a hurry, and I need a Nikon SB900 and a Nikon D90 body. I am driving down from San Francisco, and wonder if you can do the checkup before I arrive. I'll hand you a credit card as soon as I walk in."
After receiving a response equivalent to "Roger That", I drove to the store to find my purchases checked and bagged, and as I requested, the purchase was immediately processed. I was in and out in a few minutes, and arrived at the location well-prepared and fully equipped.
I will miss the store and the welcoming feeling I always got. And there was always a bowl of Hershey's Miniatures by the cash register, and the 1960s era music from the boom box CD player.
