Last night at Adorama Camera in NYC you could get the usual….lenses, lights, modifiers, flat panel TVs, sushi, Heineken, coconut chicken dipped in some sort of cool sauce…..hey wait a minute.
The bash announcing Adorama’s new pro division was a hoot. No way to tell how many people spun through the doors last evening, but several hundred for sure. It was great food, great fun, and I got to see a bunch of shooters who are hard to get caught up to. David Bergman was there, just before he heads off to Europe with Bon Jovi, for instance. He’s been out with the tour for a while now, living and sleeping on a bus. (He must be crazy.)
Got to grab a pic of a legend photographing a legend. Bill Eppridge, who knows a picture when he sees one, snapped Mr. Mendlowitz, the owner of Adorama. Spoken of in reverent terms, Mr. Mendlowits, or occasionally, Mr. M, is rightfully a legend. He’s built Adorama into a camera powerhouse, largely through dint of being a visionary in terms of the marketplace. He had Adorama positioned, for instance, on this thing called the internet before most folks got caught up to the notion of how thoroughly it would change how we do business.
Now, he’s carved out a section of the store devoted to just pros, and it fairly bristles with pro gear, from stills to video rigs, from hot shoe flash to elegant lighting solutions like Elinchrom, Profoto, and Broncolor. Most importantly, the people in the section know their stuff. Daniel has forgotten more about lighting than I’ll ever know, and Efraim can tell you the SKU of the connector cord that links the flux capacitor to the warp drive without looking at his computer. He speaks, like six languages to boot. And then there’s Annie. In yet another visionary move, Mr. M hired my wife:-) Annie brings her considerable technical knowledge and her force of nature organizational skills to the department, not to mention the legions of shooters she’s helped over the dozen years she was at Nikon.
Just a great night. Pictures, sushi, beer, friends, camera gear, Annie….and outside, New York City, glowing on an early summer night….more tk….
Awesome time for all. Glad we didn’t get hit by the mustard!
Brudda! It was great to see Annie in her new digs. Awesome place and she looked incredible in her element. Keep in touch and keep me posted on schedule!
Oh yeah… great seeing you too…
Your POOKEMS
It really was a fantastic event — the only thing that could have ever made Adorama better is liquor. Great to see you there.
Are you going to give at least a chapter in the next book to telling how you and Annie got together, and how she brought light and focus into your life?
I’ll be in NY next week. Look forward to checking it out.
Joe, thank you for your blogs, encouragements and above all your generosity in sharing.I have benefited a lot from them. I used to work at the Time & Life lab and I did the transparency retouching – in them days. Your work was always so good and didn’t need any of my services. I was there from 1986 to 1997 -the final year with Time Imaging.
I saw you briefly yesterday at the Javits Center – Kelby training. I was so mad for not bringing along your book “Hot Shoe Diaries” to get signed by you. Maybe next time. Best Regards. Nihal Mahawaduge
So this is why they were so late with shipping my order last night. Sounds like a great time. I also just got your Language of Light DVD from them the other day. Loved it. You Mr. McNally are my hero.
Yes it was! A great launch party for the new pro division of Adorama. Great stuff!
Great folks at Adorama – in EVERY department!
They set the gold standard in customer service!
Joe,
If Annie is working at Adorama, does it mean you can get a family discount? Could you please extend the discount to me as well and let’s call it, extended family discount? What do you think? 🙂
I actually have been enjoying Adorama TV. Great stuff.
Neat party ….. And really neat snap, Joe ….. Thanks much!
Many many congrats to Annie.
Adorama is just a great place to be.
Cheerz to the both of you.
BillE
Looks like it would’ve been nice to go to.
Next time you’re at Adorama, tell them that they really need to open an LA branch. People from NYC seem to be under the impression that Samy’s is our equivalent, but it’s really not. (Look at their prices and you’ll see why we call them “Scam-y’s”.)
Adorama gets my vote for # 1, Have dealt with guys like Sly, Jacob and Jack Gold, Great products for sure but blazing fast and accurate service and I live a 1000 miles away.
Joe, Mr. M should know me, especially if he looks at my account. 🙂
I will try and get by there next time I’m in NYC, I will bet a million that Scott mentioned you at his class the other night! See ya in Sept!
Ken
Adorama vastly improved over few last years and became truly great spot to get stuff. My only gripe with them is that stock status is totally off, and quality of used gear resale is hit and miss. On most of other occasions they are great folks and they do use all the modern tech to support their customers like crazy.
Thanks for all the great feedback, which I’ve made sure to pass to the relevant department heads – it is very much appreciated – but please don’t forget that I’m only ever an email away for advice or after-sales support: Helen@adorama.com
Sergei
Thank you for noticing the recent improvements; we’ve been working extremely hard across all departments to provide a wider range of products, faster shipping, more competitive pricing and superior customer service.
However, I do appreciate the frustration our website stock status can cause; it is because we sell through so many portals eg Amazon, buy.com etc.
However, we hope that the launch of our new website will change this issue: http://mediadesigner.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=1342916
Please don’t hesitate to drop me an email if you ever need help with anything.
Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador
Helen@adorama.com
http://twitter.com/HelenOster
@HelenOster
I live in San Antonio but purchase 99% of all my equipment from Adorama (the other 1% from B&H). They are awesome. Great web site and customer service! Did I mention I don’t have to pay sales tax since I am not in NY! If I ever make it to NYC they are on my list of places I HAVE to visit!
I taught photography and Journalism for 35 years in a community college in Dallas. Had Adorama been sending out tutorials when I was teaching, that computer screen in the classroom would have been on Adorama every day. Great marketing, great sales help and fast service. So, who can complain?
David Wolfe
Just realized, a few weeks ago, I asked your wife a million stupid questions 🙂 She was remarkably patient, helpful, not at all condescending . . . and, I have to say, very, very attractive 🙂 I walked away more impressed than ever with Adorama’s service.
Thank GOD I didn’t know she was Mrs. McNally; I’d have been too nervous to pronounce “TTL” in the correct order 🙂 (LTL? TLT? BLT? who knows)
I stumbled upon your books and blog fairly recently, and I have to say, thank you SO much for making this kind of educational material accessible to those of us who can’t afford to enroll in full-blown photography school. I read a little of your material every day, and it keeps amazing me how clearly you dissect what always looks (to me) like a phenomenally “lucky” shot. You’re awesome 🙂
Hey there! I’ve been following your website for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out
from Atascocita Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the good work!
many thanks for stopping by!