These days, everyone’s a photographer— with tablets and phones, as well as cameras. Kohne Camera & Photo is the place to go for long-lasting prints of those images. In 1988, the business opened in Toledo as Polygraphics, a commercial quality wet lab developing black and white photos for businesses, hospitals, and schools in the pre-digital era. Kohne is now one of the last local places to develop film.
An age-old art
Owners Lori Rupp and Gary Bendig bought the 128-year-old Kohne Camera Company in 1999, adopting the name and expanding the business that now produces high resolution digital prints, restorations, retouching, and mounting. Their staff members know cameras and the art and science of photography.
“We are here to get you past the instruction book,” said Bendig. “Unlike a YouTube video, we are here in person to help you learn about how your camera works. We can explain resolution and proportion and the other photography terms that scare people off. We know cameras and how to get the best prints from them.”
Developing memories
Kohne prints photos that last 100 years— on paper, of course— but also on metal, canvas, wood, and slate. The store sells cameras, equipment, and accessories, (think selfie sticks, frames, albums, lenscovers, camera bags) and rents lenses, lighting, and backdrops. Bendig is proud of their photo recovery service that rescues once-in-a-lifetime photos from damaged camera cards, saying, “So many people have only one copy of irreplaceable photos—on those cards that are so easily damaged. It is gratifying to be able to retrieve them.”
Kohne still sells film and is the go-to source for camera equipment and know-how for students in local high school and college photography programs. Photographers of all ages and abilities can take classes about photography and/or photo editing software programs, and the public is invited to enter work in the store’s monthly Wall of Frame contest on Facebook.
In the field
This September, the store will host a “learning vacation” trip to Acadia National Park, which will give participants a chance to learn about photography while shooting images of the park’s scenery and wildlife.
“Photography is always changing,” said Bendig. “We are changing with it. We are available to help the customer who wants to take photos of his grandchildren or his vacation at the beach as well as the person who has more complicated projects in mind. We’re happy to be the place where people know things about photography and love to share what they know!”
Kohne Camera & Photo, 120 W. South Boundary, Perrysburg | 419-385-9500 | kohnes.com
