Fixation Team: Barry Edmonds, Nikon Workshop Manager
Have a problem with Nikon kit? Barry is the man for the job. He tells us more about his day-to-day role keeping Nikon pros running and ready to shoot
Barry came to us from Nikon UK in 1995 and now oversees our in-house team of Nikon repair specialists. With this much history in the industry, there’s not much he doesn’t know about Nikon gear. He tells us more in his own words…
Barry’s role at Fixation
‘Primarily it’s all hands-on. I make sure the repairs run okay, ensure the turnaround times are kept to and that the quality is maintained. I keep everyone in the team on their toes and carry out a fair few repairs myself as well. I liaise a great deal with Nikon’s service and spares departments whilst our admin department here keeps us all in check.
‘Do I enjoy the hands-on work? Yes, of course – It’s what I’m used to and it’s fulfilling.
‘But I’ll also talk to a lot of pro photographers – at Nikon I would work at the repair depots we’d set up at sporting events and there always was lots of meeting and greeting – so I know many of our customers from way back when. Fixation was always based on word of mouth – we didn’t do marketing and we didn’t do advertising, but if you meet the customers, if you know your product and if you know what you’re talking about, people trust you.’
On working with photographers
‘There are a lot of photographers that I’ll chat to when they visit our showroom. Royal Photographer, Arthur Edwards is a regular, as are many of the PA, Reuters and Getty teams. Because of the depots, in the past I was always more involved with sports photographers, but since starting at Fixation I’ve got to know more of the news, media and features shooters. They’re an interesting bunch – quite demanding, but we understand because that’s the nature of their jobs and we’ll try our best to accommodate their needs.
‘We see a diverse bunch of photographers from all specialities and it’s amazing how many of them you see bump into each other in our showroom after not seeing each other for years. It can be quite the photographers’ club in there!’
Barry’s history in the industry
‘I officially started at Nikon UK in 1980, but was working on Nikon products even before then, so it’s been a very long time. I started as a commercial trainee after university and I’ve been doing it ever since.
‘I’ve seen quite a bit of industry change, here and at Nikon. We saw the digital revolution in the early 2000s, when everyone changed over. But we still see a few bits of film equipment, especially old lenses, as videographers in particular need that smooth manual focus action, so we do what we can to help.’
Barry’s life outside work
‘I take my own photos occasionally. Married with 3 daughters, we’ve got a place in France that we visit regularly and sometimes I’ll go out with a camera and do some of the vines and natural meadows which are stunningly beautiful. I used to do black & white processing and printing, although not for a while now. It’s a shame in a way, as that used to be great fun!
‘I keep fit by playing lots of sport – I run, swim, play tennis, do a bit of ski touring, a bit of climbing. I used to play football and bit of rugby, but not any more – the will is there, but unfortunately these days my poor old knees just can’t manage it!’
