
DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997                TAG: 9704180269

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 09   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: CREATIVE LICENSE 

SOURCE: Mary Ellen Riddle 

                                            LENGTH:   85 lines

NEW CAMERA HOUSE OWNER HAS A LENGTHY LEGACY BEHIND A LENS

When he first walked into Jim's Camera House more than a decade ago, Mike Pugh only wanted to buy a roll of film.

Thirteen years - and thousands of rolls of films later - the 33-year-old shutterbug has bought the entire shop. He took over the bypass business more than a month ago. But the change in ownership grew from seeds planted in 1984.

While Pugh was vacationing on the Outer Banks in 1984, he stopped into Jim Lee's camera shop, which was located on Beach Road at the time. Pugh noticed a ``Help Wanted'' sign in the window. He and Lee got to talking. Pugh showed Lee his black and white photo portfolio he happened to have in his truck. And Lee offered Pugh a post in his shop.

Soon, Pugh left left his job at Sierra Photographics in Charlottesville, Va., and moved to North Carolina's barrier islands. He holed up for a month at a Duck campground while looking for a place to live. Then, for the next 4 1/2 years, Pugh worked for Lee, managing his darkroom, doing custom black and white processing and printing and selling supplies.

Pugh must have some meaningful connection between jobs and vacations, because during a sojourn back to Virginia he looked up his old boss in Charlottesville. ``He was going to sell his shop and asked me if I wanted to buy it,'' Pugh said. Initially, Pugh declined. But later he bought the business and ran the shop single-handedly.

Business boomed. Work came rolling in. Pugh worked from 5 a.m. until 8 p.m., seven days a week for the next five years.

When he married in 1993, Pugh closed Sierra and opened Mike Pugh's Photography in Stuarts Draft, Va. After three years, his marriage went sour. The town was too small for both Pughs. So Pugh sold the business and moved back to the Outer Banks in April of 1996,

looking to make a fresh start. He returned to work at Jim's Camera House.

Then Lee decided to retire.

``He took me under his wing and taught me things,'' Pugh said of his first Outer Banks boss - who also was a mentor. ``If he hadn't taught me things, I wouldn't be where I am right now.''

Over the years, Pugh has learned the nuts and bolts of the business including how to copy old photos, process film, print, enlarge and do tedious retouch and reconstruction work. He's concentrated on commercial, wedding and portrait photography. He says he especially likes working weddings because he gets to meet new people and because ``it's something that somebody 100 years from now is going to see.

Pugh's love of photography began when his parents put a Brownie Hawkeye in his hands when he was in the 4th grade. He took it with him on a class trip to the zoo and shot 18 rolls of film. ``I used all my money up just to buy film. I had to do it. I had to do it,'' he chanted.

Mom and Dad gave Pugh his first single lens reflex camera when he was in the 8th grade. His dad set up a darkroom for his son the following year.

Throughout high school, Pugh worked as a photographer on the yearbook staff. In 9th grade he had his first formal training. A high school teacher taught him the mechanics of operating the camera and the darkroom.

It's clear that Pugh's life experiences have paved the way to his latest business venture. At Jim's, he plans to move slowly but surely. ``My goal for the shop is to make sure everybody in this shop knows everybody else's job,'' he said. He's giving Jim's a facelift - some fresh paint and remodeling. He plans on reactivating Jim's custom black and white darkroom that's been dormant for nine years. And he's also going to add a custom framing service to the shop.

Pugh's personal goals include photographing every lighthouse in the United States. ``I have half the East Coast already and some of Florida,'' he said. ``I love lighthouses and I love the sea. They kind of go together.''

Pugh's feelings about photography fit in well with his desires for his new business venture. He enjoys the challenges of both, he said, because ``to bring something to life is a wonderful feeling.'' That sentiment seems especially appropriate for the man who is working to breathe new life into a 22-year-old camera shop. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY ELLEN RIDDLE

Thirteen years - and thousands of rolls of films later, Mike Pugh,

33, took over Jim's Camera House just over a month ago.

Graphic

WHERE TO FIND HIM

Who: Mike Pugh, the new owner of Jim's Camera House

What: Full service photography business and camera shop

When: Open daily, 9 a.m. until

6 p.m.

Where: Milepost 9 on the bypass, Kill Devil Hills

Call: 441-6528