Preserving And Celebrating Memories Is What Kohne’s Is All About

?BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
Making, and preserving, memories is what Kohne Camera and Photo is all about.
“Bring in your memory card or CD and you can pick the images you want, crop and enhance,” said John Williamson, one of Kohne’s many on-staff photography experts. The in-store digital station is easy to use, and so is Kohne’s Web site at www.kohnes.com.
From a home computer or on Kohne’s in-store station, anyone can create greeting cards, hard- or softbound books and posters, a low-cost but highly cherished gift for Mother’s Day, birthdays and graduations. Hardbound, 10-page books start at just $20.00, and 5-by-7-inch books start at $2.49.
“It’s not an ordinary gift. It’s something unique. A book full of memories is something that’s unforgettable,” owner Lori Rupp said.
Kohne’s encourages customers to preserve memories safely on CDs made to last 100 to 300 years, not the three to 10 years of the average CD.
The store has a service to recover damaged images from your memory card, but even with an 85 percent success rate, the best prevention is to back them up regularly on the low-cost CDs that have a layer of 24-karat gold.
“Some people who don’t back up on a CD can lose years worth of photos,” Rupp said, citing a man who lost seven years’ worth of photos of three of his children from their birth on.
It only takes 45 seconds to place an order, Williamson adds.
Although Kohne’s sells everything from compact, family-friendly cameras to high-end professional cameras and lighting, the Perrysburg store’s biggest business is printing. From vacation film in 4-by-6 format to trade-show graphics and high-end giclee printing for those entering competitions, Kohne’s is known for its quality printing.
When purchasing a camera, Kohne’s provides customers basic instruction on the technical parts of the camera, as well as unlimited technical support, Rupp said. Kohne University offers classes geared toward beginners through experienced photographers, including basic digital, flash, studio lighting and PhotoShop.
Kohne’s experts also work one-on-one with companies and individuals for more catered instruction.
“Our team of people here is knowledgeable and the care they put into their customers is huge,” Rupp said. “Everybody who works here has a passion for photography. They have the technical knowledge, they build excitement for photography and they are great teachers.”
During May – National Photography Month – Kohne’s will feature weekly events including a RAW workflow class, a scrapbooking event and a $10.00 beginning photography class.
On Tuesday, May 20, Kohne’s will host an awards night at Central Park West in Toledo. The awards night will showcase photographs taken with a single-use camera as part of the Get Your Camera On! Photo challenge hosted by Kohne’s.
“It is a true challenge, photographing Toledo in the dead of winter,” Rupp said. “And using a single-use camera and no cropping or altering the images really levels the playing field.”
Kohne’s moved to 120 W. South Boundary in Perrysburg in the Country Charm Shoppes in February 2007, after 20 years at the corner of Airport Highway and South Avenue. The owner of Polygraphics, Rupp purchased George Kohne’s business, which had been a downtown Toledo mainstay for more than 120 years.
For more information, call the store at (419) 385-9500.