About

What is photo retro?

Photo Retro was established as a hub for film photography in Southern New Hampshire. Film photography almost -- but never completely -- died when digital cameras were introduced to the market in the early 2000s. In the last several years film other traditional photographic processes have seen a resurgence of interest that has a fueled a vibrant and active global community of photographers, manufacturers and businesses who have reacknowledged film's place as a viable artistic media. The analogy we like to use at Photo Retro is how oil, acrylic or watercolor are similar but distinct media for painting. Film shooters aren't necessarily after photographic perfection or instant results; we often enjoy the process itself, whether it be the simple action of loading film in the camera and advancing the winder, the anticipation and mystery of developing the film and printing in the darkroom or mastering archaic but still-available alternative processes of the early 20th and 19th centuries. We love the results from shooting on film: the grain, the rendering of the scene on the film and cameras of the film photography era and sometimes the imperfections and flaws associated with a purely-analog process.

Here at Photo Retro, we are passionate about film photography and we want to support your passion for shooting film.

Photo Retro began as the commercial branch of Pictoriographica LLC, which specializes in the manufacture of obsolete photographic media and accessories. Owned by Jason Lane, Pictoriographica started making and selling handmade photographic glass plate negatives, J. Lane Dry Plates, in 2017. You can visit www.pictoriographica.com for more info. As Pictoriographica grew it needed more space for manufacturing and acquired commercial space for that purpose. Seeing an opportunity Lane created Photo Retro with the vision of making it a center for film photography in the same space. Lane sold Photo Retro to Bob McElroy in June and it was renamed Photo Retro LLC, A Veteran-Owned Business. Despite the change in ownership we remain true to our love of and advocacy for film photography and our goal of being a hub for film photography in Southern New Hampshire.

WHO IS PHOTO RETRO?

Photo Retro is made up of photographers of all experiences and talents. With experience in developing film, darkroom printing and photographing on all kinds of cameras, we are here to help you in whatever you need.

We love photography and we aspire to help all photographers get better at their craft and support the photography community in Southern New Hampshire and beyond.