Petersfield Photographic is run by people who enjoy photography themselves and delight in helping others to do the same. We would like to introduce ourselves to you so you can get to know us better.....

Gary Boxall

Gary Boxall is the tea boy and chief Bottle washer and sometimes act’s as Director of the company. His interest In photography started when he was Six Years old, where he sold a picture which paid For his first camera. The junior school trips away seem to land up with Gary’s pictures On display. His teacher mentioned that he should Become a photographer, but being Ten at the Time Of the Moon landings, he wanted to become an Astronaut not a photographer!!.

He left school in 1976 And started a job as a sales assistant at a shop in Chichester, He meant it to be a temporary position, but in the end stayed there for Seven Years. The business he worked for not only did retail sales, but run a studio, had darkroom facilities, and did commercial still photography and 16mm Commercial filming. It was a great environment to learn all the aspects of both still & movie photography. In 1980 Gary was promoted to Manager when the company opened a branch in Alton, Hants.

In 1983, Gary left the trade and worked as an office manager for a large building company, having served four years there he then joined a video rental company as an area manager.

In 1990, an opportunity then came up to open a photographic shop in Petersfield. It took a short while to get up to speed with all the new equipment that was then available, auto focus camera’s for a start, video camera’s were just becoming more popular, when Gary was last in the trade he was selling Super 8 Cine’ camera’s!!

Our Staff
 

Kate Collyer

I have always had a keen interest in photography as far back as I can remember. My first visit to Petersfield Photographic was to purchase my darkroom equipment and of course that’s when I first met Gary and was delighted with the help he gave me, little did I know that a year later I would be working for him. I joined the team in May 1999 when Gary installed his first in-store photographic processor. I soon settled into the position and became a very happy mini-lab operator & within a few weeks I had noticed a big improvement in the quality of my photo’s that were printed from the machine.

With the number of great photo’s I was producing, I noticed that we appeared to be lacking a range of albums and frames that appealed to me. Gary agreed to allow me to express a ladies touch on the choice of albums and frames that we stocked. This has resulted in the large and varied range we now have today which include some locally made products and “Fair-Trade” goods.

Six years ago when we moved into the present site I was promoted to Manageress where I am extremely happy in being responsible for all the ordering and general day to day running of the business.

I enjoy learning new skills and have taken a keen interest in restoring & repairing old photo’s. I have also just completed a course on mount cutting. I really do enjoy helping people when it comes to choosing a camera and I’m delighted with the range of services that we offer including putting your beautiful picture onto canvas.

Louise Andrews

I first started working for Gary as a “Saturday Girl” when I was Fourteen and did a few days work during the school holidays. When I was Sixteen I left school , an opportunity arose for me to work full time at a High Street bank in town. I naturally did time on the counters, but it was not long before they moved me into a position of personal banker.

After Three years I felt that I missed working for a small friendly company, so I asked Kate (my Mum) if there was a position available at the shop, fortunately there was one and Gary was more than happy to employ me. I am now assistant manageress, I am responsible for all the developing and printing and helping customers operate the kiosks. I make it my responsibility to constantly check the chemistry control and calibrate the machine on a daily basis. In my free time I enjoy walking and driving accompanied with my Nikon F80 camera.

Extra Help On Saturdays

Meet our Saturday helpers. They are quite good at making tea and pushing the vacuum cleaner around, but more importantly they try hard to help with customer queries. They can help you on the kiosks and by taking in your film/media for printing.

You may notice a resemblance towards the full time staff, yes they are members of the family. From the left we have Sophie, then Tara Andrews along side Luke Boxall. (The girls are Kate’s daughters). The girls each have their own Nikon SLR camera’s and are starting to take a keen interest in the subject, although Luke has his own digital camera, his interest lays more into video productions and has made a number of short length films for his youth club with a little help from his twin brother Joel.

Contact us for more information