Written by Katt Janson Merilo

In celebration of Portland’s second full moon in the month of August, we at Blue Moon Camera and Machine would like to update you on a few things that have happened since the last blue moon.

But before we get into the recent past, we’d like to talk a bit about our beginnings. Jake Shivery and Josey Peterson opened Blue Moon Camera and Machine on December 1, 2001. The store soon grew enough for the two to hire their first employee, Zeb Andrews, on September 1, 2002.

Thanks to a strong base of loyal customers and the support of the local business and artist communities, Blue Moon Camera and Machine has continued to grow and flourish into the twelve-person strong business that it is today. But eleven years after Jake and Josey’s grand opening, and almost ten years after Zeb’s first day, the store was beginning to outgrow its original design. And so, in spring 2012, a renovation was in order. Some of you will remember that we closed our doors this spring, and reopened them a month later with a whole new look.

The fearless Blue Moon contractors, Aren and John

Our staff and contractors labored day and night to give the store a complete turn-around in look and style. It wasn’t always easy, and it wasn’t always comfortable, and it certainly wasn’t always dry, but at the end of the four weeks the results proved to be well worth the toil.

The store now proudly wears tin ceilings and hardwood floors, pristine shelves to hold all those pristine cameras, and even skylights in the back lab to keep the production team from turning into sun-fearing vampires. Not that we have anything against vampires, but if a mirror can’t see them, will a camera lens be able to?

Blue Moon Camera and Machine's reopening party

We were excited to reopen our doors and celebrate Blue Moon’s new ‘do with our customers and supporters at a reopening party on March 10, 2012. Our customers came to party with us again on August 4th to celebrate the fifth annual Blue Moon Camera and Machine staff show, and we’ll hopefully see some of you all tomorrow to celebrate Zeb’s anniversary and Kendall’s departure into academia. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past blue moons, it’s that our customers know how to show us a good time.

So thanks for the past eleven years, everyone, and we’ll see you on the next blue moon with another exciting update from behind the curtain.

What’s New on the Blue Moon?