Video: Dan Wheeler says traditional photographs will never die
Developing traditional photographs ‘will never die’ despite Boots planning to close 220 UK photo labs, according to an independent photo developer.
Nottingham-based Boots announced plans to close 220 of its 320 in-store photo labs nationwide, which could put up to 400 jobs at risk.
The company says it will keep traditional photo services at its remaining 100 labs, as well as running 3,000 instant photo kiosks at 1,000 of its stores.
In a statement, the company, which has its UK headquarters in Lenton, said: “To continue to focus on the customer demand for instant kiosks to print photos and order photo gifts, Boots UK is removing 220 photo labs from stores, and has announced changes to the in-store photo teams.
“Impacted colleagues will be offered retraining and redeployment to other roles where possible.
“However, some roles may be made redundant.”
The rise of digital photography and online data storage has been blamed for the changes.
But Dan Wheeler, owner of Nottingham’s independent photo developer Photo Parlour which opened in 2013, thinks there will always be a market for traditional photographs.
He said: “We live in an age where anyone can immediately publish their photography, journalism, music or whatever you do and it can be shared instantly with the entire world.
“That’s just a fact, that is what we can do now but it never really exists.
“That digital file is just noughts and ones, it is just an algorithm and it just becomes a thing on the internet that is eventually lost and it degrades with time.
“If you try and hunt out digital photographs you took five or six years ago on a hard drive somewhere, you pull them out and they will be all glitchy and horrible, that’s just the nature of digital degradation.
“So I think people want a permanence now.”
