DAVAO CITY – A mixed mood of smiles and sadness can be seen among employees of a pioneer photo studio in this city as they entertain a handful of customers.

Some of their colleagues are clearing the cabinets and putting most of the unsold photography supplies, picture frames, and instamatic cameras into boxes.

While some of them are still cheerfully chatting each other, they are obviously hiding their sadness as some of them would wake up jobless the next morning.

Today, July 31, marks the last day of operation of Photohouse Laboratory Inc. as it will finally cease printing memories after 44 years.

Photohouse Laboratory Inc. has been the most popular photo printer of not just the ordinary residents of this city but as well as some of the most prominent families in the city.

Located just a stone’s throw away from the city hall, the photo studio was established in 1981 and offered various photography services.

Loreto Lim, one of the owners, admitted their sales have declined since the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

“Besides, many of the photographers now, especially who are known as speculators, have their own printers. Some have mobile setup that they can bring along wherever they are shooting,” Lim told Manila Bulletin.

But he pointed out that their clients may have not realized that the quality of their pictures are not at par with the ones printed in photo laboratories.

Since the proliferation of smartphones, an employee said that people have also stopped printing their pictures.

Instead, they prefer to upload them in their social media accounts or just store them inside their smartphones.

His sister and co-owner, Luisa, told Manila Bulletin that it is also difficult to find parts for their aging printing machines.

“The pandemic really hit us hard,” said Luisa while overseeing one of their long-time staff print several copies of pictures inside the studio.

Rosalinda Claros, who has been working as the lab’s technician since 1981, said that she’s quite sad to see her working area shut down.

“I’m feeling sad, I will surely miss my workplace,” Claros said.

“The photo printing business has really declined. In the past months and years since the pandemic, we were mostly printing identification photos. We rarely print pictures on special occasions like birthdays or weddings.”

Claros recounted that Photohouse Laboratories Inc. was just among the few known photo studios back then that carried major photographic companies.

The studio carried European photographic brand Agfa Photo since it moved to its current location.

Photohouse offered various services such as processing films, including black and white, rush ID, picture framing, and photography equipment sales.

The studio was also equipped to process black and white films.

Ivy, Loreto’s daughter, admitted that the family decided to shut down operations just this year.

She added that it is too costly for them to upgrade their equipment just to keep up with the competition. Thus, the family will just shift into a different business venture since they own the building.

The elder Lim said their film processing machine was no longer operational since last year.

Lim said that his first studio was in Ilustre area in 1976.

Few years later they moved to Claro M. Recto Ave. (formerly known as Claveria). In 1981, they moved to its current location in what is now known as City Hall Drive.

But for most of their regular customers, they refer it as “Photohouse in San Pedro St.” because of its proximity to the more popular San Pedro St.

According to Luisa, their family initially wanted to put up a printing press business. But it did not push through due to logistical and personnel requirements.

She said that they started as a photography studio and still sent their film rolls to Manila for processing.

Luisa recalled that they also processed films from as far as Cotabato City, Cotabato province, and South Cotabato in 1980s. “We have an agent in Cotabato City. He would bring the film rolls here in the morning and then he will bring the prints back to Cotabato City on the same day. The following day, the client could already get the prints.”

When they opened the studio, she recalled, there were about three other photo studios already operating.

However, these studios were located outside of the downtown area. “We were the first photo studio at the heart of the city.”

An employee of the studio bared that some of them already have a job waiting for them. Some will just move to other business establishments owned by their employer.

For Claros, who spent more than half her age in the studio, she might move to the other photo printing studio just around the corner.

Among the regular customers of Photohouse are the park photographers, who mostly cater to tourists who would pose for souvenir pictures in various landmarks of the city. They consider Photohouse as their lifeline.

One of them is Dodong Samson, who has been a regular customer of the studio since 1980.

Now 69-years-old, Samson admitted that he is saddened to see Photohouse cease operations.

“I’m not just sad but I’m also worried that there’s only printing house left near the park,” he lamented in an interview at Quezon Park, which is just a stone’s throw away from the studio.

“Since we will no longer have any other option now, it might affect us also because there are times that the other printing house is busy and they cannot accommodate us right away. Maybe it’s time for us to invest in our printers, too,” he added.