The end of the roll

Owner of Ahmann's Images sells business to Othello couple

The night after Mike Ahmann's first day as the owner of his own business was a long one.

Thirty-five years later, as he sits in his office which is gradually being cleaned out to make way for the new owners of Ahmann's Images, Mike still remembers it well.

"I laid awake that night, and I'm not a worrying guy, but I remember that night," he says, smiling.

The dark hours passed slowly. Mike had left a good, secure career in banking to pursue his dream of owning his own business. And done so with five kids to support.

By 3 a.m., he couldn't take it any longer. He woke up his wife Mary to talk about the dramatic decision he'd made.

She remembers that night too. "All of a sudden, it's pretty real," Mary said. "You have no guarantees."

Despite the risk and uncertainty, Mary said she always believed in Mike and his abilities. "There was never any turning back," she said.

Mike's move to become a small business owner was motivated by his desire not to move.

It was 1967 and he and his wife Mary had just moved back to Moses Lake where Mike took a job as a loan officer at People's Bank. It was their second stop here, the first had been in 1963 when Mike was employed with a finance company. After a few years of bouncing from Moses Lake to Spokane to Salt Lake City, Utah, and back again, Mike could see what a future in the industry would mean. In order to advance, he'd have to keep moving, his growing family in tow.

"I wanted to have my own business," he said. "I wanted it in Moses Lake."

Small town life was appealing to both Mike and Mary.

"I think when you have a large family you need to kind of stay grounded," Mary said. The couple, who would eventually have nine children, found Moses Lake a safe place to raise them all. Mike was set on the idea of becoming an entrepreneur when Mischel's Studio, the only photography studio in the area at that time, came on the market.

"I didn't even own a camera," Mike said. "I didn't know an f-stop from a shutter speed. I got into it because it was a business and not because it was a passion or a hobby."

But Mike was determined to create a stable home for his family, and bought the business through a loan from the only other bank in town, Seattle First, though Mike wrote up much of the paperwork, as he was the only loan officer in the area who could process Small Business Association loans. The deal closed on April 1, 1971.

"It was fun back then, we were kind of the hub of the city," Mike described working at People's Bank. But the change from one of the busiest spots in town to his own photography studio was drastic. "I went from the hub of the city to the most remote attic of the city."

Mike held his future in his hands, and through the lens of a huge wooden Century Graflex camera. He dove into learning studio photography as quickly as he could, studying the lighting and poses used in magazines and replicating the look in his studio.

"I'd even lay that picture down where the customer couldn't see it," Mike said. "When you make that commitment, you just learn."

A turning point came in the form of a compliment from some of Mike's first customers, Dr. Conklin and his wife Marge. They had their portrait taken regularly, and went into Mischel's Studio shortly after Mike took over. The next time the Conklins bumped into Mike's wife Mary, they told her Mike had taken the best portrait of them they'd ever had done.

Their praise was priceless to Mike.

"That was my sendoff. That was my confidence builder," he said.

Mike also improved his skills with the guidance of Carl Lewis, one of the Basin's first photographers and a charter member of Professional Photographers of Washington.

"He kind of took me under his wing," Mike said. "He was very instrumental in my success as a photographer."

Carl pushed Mike to attend photography seminars, become involved in PPW and enter a PPW competition. That contest too provided Mike with a boost when all the prints he submitted were chosen for display and won awards.

Mike began his career shooting a wide variety of subjects.

"We did all kinds of photography, everything from spud cellars to aerial photographs," he described. But the studio's focus has primarily been photos of sports teams, portraits, weddings, first communions, confirmations and the like.

"My favorite, if I had a favorite, would be families," Mike said. "I work well with a group. Of course, I'm family-oriented myself."

A year after Mike bought Mischel's, he opened Fast Foto and Film (the building now houses Moses Lake Multi-Sports). It was the first photo processing business in town.

"I ran them separate for 15 years," Mike said of the studio and processing businesses. He also branched out to start photography studios and photo finishing businesses in Othello, Ephrata and Ketchikan, Alaska, eventually selling them all over the years.

In 1986, Mike combined his Moses Lake studio and photo processing businesses into one building with his name on it: Ahmann's Images. Realtor Larry Hall sold him the building where Ahmann's Images still operates today on Broadway Avenue.

"It's been 35 years and two months. That's a long time," Mike said of his career in the photography business. In that time, he's seen major changes. Cameras evolved from medium format to 35 millimeter, and then auto focus was introduced. Mike used primarily black and white film when he started, and now he uses no film at all after buying a Canon 20D in recent years. The business is changing too, as customers drop off less and less film and instead ask for prints from digital mediums.

And now it's time for one more change: Mike sold Ahmann's Images to Jay and Elizabeth Keele of Othello on June 1.

"I've done it long enough," Mike said.

He's had numerous opportunities to sell the business over the years, but now was the right time, Mike said.

"Actu-ally, it feels good, I'm looking forward to it," Mike, whose energy and enthusiasm belies his 65 years, said of retirement. He plans to spend time on the golf course, working on his house and in his yard, but he'll maintain other ventures that keep him busy as well, including several rental properties.

Over the years, he's been asked how he managed to accomplish something many people dream of doing: Leave the corporate world behind to run his own business, and do it successfully. And in Mike's case, with a large family to support.

"You just do it," Mike said. "You just do. Work harder or longer or do without."

Mike and Mary remain thankful they were able to settle in Moses Lake and raise their family here.

"I have a lot of thankfulness in my heart for being able to work in a community like Moses Lake," Mary said.

"It was definitely a family effort," Mary, who worked with Mike for several years, said of the business. "As soon as they were in junior high we taught them how to work the cash register," she said of their kids.

Mike's and Mary's family continues to grow as they now have 20 grandchildren. All of their children live within driving distance.

The couple will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary this year. They met on a blind date nearly a half-century ago.

"It was not only a blind date, but a spur of the moment blind date," Mike said. The couple rang in New Year's Day together. He was a high school senior from Enumclaw, she was a junior and lived in Auburn. Mike remembers being too shy to say goodnight, but Mary said it was love at first sight.

"I just felt he was the one," she said.

"We were married three years later, on Dec. 30," Mike said.

A year later, they would move to Moses Lake for the first time and eventually spend most of their lives here.

"The community has been great over the years," Mike said. "We've supported a big family, they all worked here, the kids have fond memories of growing up here."