Photodom
Ever since first picking up a camera at 18, Dominick Lewis has been high-key obsessed with photography. After two years of college, the East Flatbush native dropped his engineering studies to successfully pursue the craft full time. Purchasing equipment, however, was often a grating experience.
“I never felt welcomed,” says Dominick, 26, recalling clerks at a popular New York megastore that would rush him along, or assume he couldn’t afford a certain lens, or express surprise by his knowledge level. “It was very one-sided, even though I’m heavily obsessed with photography. And I noticed white guys would be in there talking for hours.”
After realizing it wasn’t just him — other Black photographers faced similarly harsh treatment — Dominick embarked upon a mission to set up his own camera shop.
“It’s important that image makers have a connection to the place they purchase their equipment,” he wrote from his GoFundMe campaign last summer. “We must give Black image-makers and Brooklyn’s remaining Black neighborhoods the ability to control our own stories, instill knowledge, and educate the next generation of storytellers, historians, and artists.”
In September, Dominick opened Photodom. In addition to selling new and vintage cameras, film and accessories, the Bushwick store repairs cameras and processes film — and is welcoming to everyone.
“We must give Black image-makers and Brooklyn’s remaining Black neighborhoods the ability to control our own stories, instill knowledge, and educate the next generation of storytellers.”
Specializing in analog cameras and film may seem counterintuitive in 2021, when digital cameras and smartphones are ever pervasive, but the wares at Photodom speak to a thriving resurgence in the craft.
“People want something that’s more tangible and not so instant,” Dominick says, adding that the store’s film processing services are in especially high demand. “A lot of new photographers who come in, people between the ages of 18 to 22, grew up in an age where they never even saw film. They don’t understand what negatives are. They’re finally getting to understand photography as a physical medium that they weren’t exposed to as younger kids.”
Along with traditional film and cameras at accessible price points, Photodom sells handmade film and disposable cameras by BKFI Films — a Brooklyn-based, Black woman-owned company that produces patterned films infusing photos with hearts, confetti, flowers or rainbow flare effects. The store also offers books featuring the work of Black photographers including Gordon Parks and Brooklyn’s own Jamel Shabazz, as well as made-in-house shirts, pins and tote bags.
At less than 300 square feet, Photodom is small but mighty. With grid walls showcasing products from floor to ceiling, its modular layout allows Dominick to pack in a lot. But he also designed the store — illuminated by flickering purple, green and white lights, neon signs and a disco ball — to be an experience.
“I didn't want a traditional retail space where everything always stays the same; I want to give people something unique every single time,” says Dominick, who plans to eventually host photography classes for beginners from the store.
“But what I love the most is that people are comfortable here. We don’t want anyone to feel like they’re not invited into some special group, like photography is something only certain people can do. Photodom is a place where anyone can be a part of it.”
1717 Broadway #310, Brooklyn, 347-365-5660, Photodom.shop
