December 2008

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

After starting to work part time at Studio Camera in 1967, in the late 1970s, I opened the first one hour lab in Michigan within Studio Camera--Speedi Photo was born. Having our own lab in our store gave us the opportunity to create millions of high quality color prints for you, our valued clients.

In November 2008, I was hospitalized after having a minor brush with a stroke. Sitting in bed in the hospital, it hit me that the frames and albums we sold were basically a "commodity", available most anywhere. I came out of the hospital with a little less "oomph", and a realization that the excitement and creativity that drew me to the photo business when I was 14 years old didn't exist anymore at Speedi Photo. It is for this reason that I decided to close Speedi Photo on December 31, 2008.

Over the past decade, my wife Mary Ann has built a business next to Speedi Photo called The Portrait Place. Mary Ann has photographed thousands of you over the years, and will continue her creative portraiture by appointment. The entrance to Mary Ann's newly remodeled studio is through what used to be our rear parking lot door, just behind the Knotted Needle store. I hope that you will continue to support Mary Ann's zeal and skill for capturing the special times in the lives of your families.

My goal is not to totally retire. I would go crazy, and would miss all of you too much. Mary Ann is planning on offering creative products like collages, posters, do old photo restorations, folded greeting cards and other photo gift items that take creativity to produce. I hope to work part time for Mary Ann in this area.

In order to make this change as painless as possible for all, I am restructuring this site to give you advice on where to buy what you used to buy at Speedi Photo. I will do my best to offer you links on the menu to the left with my best advice on where to buy everything you need to enjoy photography.

I will still be around Grosse Pointe, so please feel free to ask me your photo questions no matter where we meet. Thank you all for a wonderful 40 years in the photo business!