So, You Think You Have A Mortgage !!

by LeMoyne Johnson

Editors Note: In early 2000 LeMoyne fulfilled a life-long dream of opening a state-of-the-art Photography Studio and Lab. I asked his permission to reprint that article and, to look back and give me his thoughts one year after his struggle. On a personal note, LeMoyne has spent the early part of 2001 recovering from knee replacements.

Jim asked me to write about some of the trials and tribulations of opening my new business, Johnson PhotoImaging, Inc. (that is six businesses at once - a portrait studio, camera store, processing lab, custom framing, a classroom with film and digital teaching, and a scrapbook-memory album area). Well, it's been a tremendous job, but most of it is operational now because of the wonderful employees we are fortunate to have.

As most of you know, I am a practicing general surgeon (until July, 2000) and over the last ten years had become totally disenchanted with the government and legal intrusion into the providing of medical care. My dad told me nearly 40 years ago to always be planning for your next job, so I think that has always been a guiding force. I'm an avid nature and wildlife photographer and began to learn portrait photography about 15 years ago, so when I made the decision in 1992 to go ahead with my plans, a large part of the groundwork was already done.

My first task was to find a location for the portrait studio that had been in my home. The Chamber of Commerce had great demographic data that pointed toward the location I purchased near I75 on Highway 70. I then began working on the plans---and the concept began to expand to its current completion. Lots of legwork and phone calls help avoid most of the conflicts with Manatee County, but there are certainly many layers of the bureaucracy. I decided to go with one of the largest commercial builders in the county (Manasota Construction) and this was fortuitous considering the shortage of qualified sub-contractors and the national shortage of sheet rock.

We had weekly meeting with all the subs once we broke ground 12/23/99. This kept things moving fairly smoothly so we were finished only about a month behind schedule. And then the work really began trying to stock the store and get everything going. I had decided to make the entire operation as digital as possible, so in February, I purchased the Fuji Frontier 350 digital laser processor/printer for the lab. LOTS of $$$$$. And since it's so new, we are still awaiting the last component parts for digital input. We had the first processor in the Western Hemisphere, and will have one of the first three Aladdin digital input kiosks that we will be field-testing for Fuji. This machine is Fantastic!!! We can print from negatives or slides and the shadow detail is unbelievable and we can output color or B&W from any color source.

My studio features the Kodak/Canon EOS560 digital camera with 18 megs per image. At 30"X40" I believe it is sharper than negative film. Also, we sell from digital projection of the images with some prints frequently leaving with the client after the portrait sitting. BUT, with all this digital equipment and computers and cables, we do have our share of glitches.

I hope all of you will stop out and see our art deco store and attend some of our classes. We are offering a range of digital topics the first quarter of 2000 that I hope will be helpful. And if you'd like, we would like to become your processing lab also in the next millennium.

In updating this article for the web site, I look back and the obvious question is - "Was it worth it?" The answer is a resounding yes. The number of photographers that we serve is greater than our wildest expectations.

When we view the past year in 20/20 hindsight, the challenges of opening a business seem unimportant when we look at the problems we overcame and the great customers that we have been able to successfully serve.