“It’s high tech with a low-tech look,” said Robert Porto, as he mused about his understated, yet highly successful, enterprise, The Rye Camera Shop at 55 Purchase St.
On its face, the shop looks like a place to meet your generic, everyday photography needs, even in a world of cellphone photography. Listening to Robert and his wife, Anja, one realizes Rye Camera Shop is way more than that: Great technological expertise disguised as a “Mom and Pop” shop.
Robert Porto, one might say, is a “cradle photographer,” immersed by no choice of his own in photography almost from the day he was born. His uncle, Al Porto, together with his father Larry Porto, founded Rye Camera Shop in 1947, soon after both returned from World War II. Al had been trained in the military to do aerial photography, and Larry graduated from photography school after coming out of the service as a flight instructor.
Their photography studio, together with a framing shop, originated on Elm Place. In 1977 they made 55 Purchase St. their home, and for 40 years, the Porto brothers photographed Rye’s children, families, and events as well as did commercial photography.
Robert, even though he worked part time in the shop during high school learning about photography, went off to college becoming a computer programmer, his career for 20 years. In 1980, Robert met Anja, who had come to the U.S. from Denmark as an au pair. They fell in love, marrying two months later; they have been happily married for 44 years, and are successful partners in business, as well. Anja also is a photographer for The Rye Record.
After both Robert’s uncle and his father retired, Robert and Anja had a renewed interest in The Rye Camera Shop, finding the thought of a more modern photography business enticing. They decided to continue the business, bringing the Rye Camera Shop to a new, updated level. Robert had the technical insight and Anja brought an artistic flair. They updated the business to include the ability to digitize almost any type of photography as well as convert old 8mm movies, videos, film, and vintage photographs to the latest forms of photographic technology.
Photo restoration of decade-old pictures also became a specialty. Their conversion of outdated forms of photography to modern digital versions allowed their customers to share pictures with family and friends, including showing them on smart TVs and computers.
Anja and Robert said they have noted a “retro” trend in photography, with young people enamored of black and white film, which they get digitized and “dropped” into their cell phones.
The advent of digital cameras started changing photography slowly in the 1980s, and then rapidly in the 1990s. The cellphone made picture taking much easier, turning everyone into a prolific photographer. Robert and Anja saw that photography and technology were converging; they saw digital as the wave of the future, and it was exciting to them. Even the federal government no longer used regular film, going digital.
Shrewdly, they kept the charm of a small business on Purchase Street as they incorporated the latest technological advances of digitized photography.
Robert and Anja sing the praises of their landlord, The Bubbico family, who for many decades ran a furrier storage and repair business in that same location during an era when fur coats were the norm for the ladies of Rye. The Bubbicos know the ups and downs of retailing and were very supportive of Robert and Anja as they courageously made the leap to incorporate advanced photographic technology in their business.
Rye Camera Shop under the guidance of Robert and Anja Porto has served Rye for more than 30 years and they are grateful for the steadfast loyalty of their customers. They have moved with the times technologically, and still provide the charm and personal service that is the hallmark of enterprises like theirs on Purchase Street in Rye.