The tiny camera parts require some extra magnification. He is totally focused on the task at hand, the workshop is quiet, the only sound coming from the camera shutter and the noisy neighbors through thin walls.
A photo essay on the last camera repair shop in Kansas City. You can read the essay below the images.
A Canon AE-1 lays disassembled on the workbench in Archie's humble workshop. "This is his true love. He's here every day... It drives him crazy if he can't fix something.", said Mary Pat about Archie's dedication to solving each camera's problem.
The view of the workshop from Dereninger Camera's showroom. They have a variety of cameras for sale that Archie has fixed up over the years from plastic point and shoots to fancy old medium format cameras.
Archie was an electrician in the Navy in the late 60's, this skill was something that led Cecil Dereninger to hire him. The business started on Broadway then moved to the Crestwood Shops and now lives on 63rd street in Brookside.
A small selection of the cameras in for repair. When Archie isn't fixing up cameras you can find him enjoying a book or crossword puzzle.
Archie closes in on a solution to the problem. He's no stranger to the circuitry of these cameras and solders the tiny wires to the intricate contacts.
With the camera put back together, Archie uses a machine to make sure the shutter speeds are accurate.
Mary Pat in the lobby of their small camera repair shop.
Archie in his cramped but cozy workshop.
At Dereninger Camera Repair, there’s no internet, no computers — just a landline, and it doesn’t even have long-distance. Archie McGhee has been working here for over forty years, and he still comes in seven days a week, even when the East Brookside shop is closed to the public.
“Wouldn’t want to be sittin’ around at home,” he says. “No good at that.”
A long, long time ago — the 1960s — Archie was an electrician in the Navy, a skill that eventually led Cecil Dereninger to hire him. Dereninger opened the shop in 1946. It started out on Broadway, then moved to the Crestwood Shops, and now sits at 616 E. 63rd Street. Archie’s wife, Mary Pat, started doing camera intakes and keeping the books in 1990, and in 2000 the McGhees bought the business from the Dereninger family.
Camera repair isn’t exactly a booming industry these days, but the McGhees have found creative ways to keep their enterprise afloat. High school art programs in the area are their biggest source of business. And Archie has a reputation for solving repair puzzles — he salvages parts from junk cameras and even makes his own parts when he can’t get his hands on the right one. “It drives him crazy if he can’t fix something,” Mary Pat says.
The niche of camera romantics in the city know they can rely on Dereninger to service their precious tools. They also have learned patience. Despite Archie’s everyday dedication to the job, the repair queue tends to be pretty full — they (literally) don’t make ‘em like this anymore.