Camera West was founded in February of 2000, in a small space in Monterey, California.
Our goal then was not to grow into a photographic super store, but to focus on the top 10%
of the hardware in photography. Naturally, this included a heavy focus on Leica.
Shortly thereafter, I was invited to visit the Leica factory, then in Solms, Germany, with my
sales rep and now close friend, Tom Brichta. While we were there, we saw the newly
created “Shop in Shop” concept. Tom and I were silently staring at it for quite some time
and Tom said, “we should do this in Monterey”. Within a month, we had taken additional
space next door and were cutting a hole in the brick wall!
We have always found the overall performance, quality of craftsmanship and Leica’s rich
history to be most compelling and those things are what fueled our desire to open the first
Leica “Shop in Shop” in the USA in 2002. This allowed us to create an immersive experience,
showcasing nearly all of Leica’s current offerings, including a good depth of vintage and
limited edition items. We also opened that space showcasing images made with Leica
cameras.
Sean & Diana during the very early stages of the SF store buildout.
Fast forward to 2012, when we first started planning a flagship store location. We knew
that we needed to find a way to expose more people to what we wanted to offer. San
Francisco is a world-class city and one of the few in the USA that is truly a walking city, that
does not necessitate the need for an automobile, so it was a perfect choice. Leica had
substantially grown its product lines, so we knew that we needed a larger space. To bring
things to the next level, we needed a proper environment to show the work made with the
cameras and a good place to have education and workshops, which brought us to our
present location on Bush St. The tall ceilings, wood, steel and brick, highlighted by the floor
to ceiling South light windows in the rear of the space, that had an earned look which was
warm and inviting, like a vintage Leica, was a perfect choice.
This great space has allowed us to host a vast array of amazing talent over the years from
Magnum greats to our own Fred Lyon and has been a great venue to make a lot of new
friends with a common love of photography and some of the best tools known to the craft.
Our goal to support the rich photography community in our beautiful city and as well to
create an outreach which extends beyond our city limits, will continue to grow and evolve
with the Leica brand itself. We are immensely thankful to all whom have made this journey
with us!
~ Sean & Diana Cranor
