A conversation with Looking Glass owner Jen Waicukauski about photography, community, and the next chapter of a Berkeley institution
Looking Glass has served Bay Area photographers since 1971, evolving alongside photography while remaining an independent place where people can ask questions, handle equipment, learn new skills, and connect with others who care about making photographs.
After relocating to Rose Street, Looking Glass has found a new home in North Shattuck. The North Shattuck Association recently invited owner Jen Waicukauski to talk about the history of the store, what photography means to her, and what neighbors can expect from Looking Glass in the years ahead.
Below is the complete conversation.
How long have you run Looking Glass?
Looking Glass has been in Berkeley since 1971. I began working here in 1999 while earning a BFA in photography, and then acquired the business in 2008. Over that time, Looking Glass has evolved along with photography itself, while continuing to serve generations of Bay Area photographers.
What is Looking Glass Photo today?
Looking Glass is an independent photography store and community resource. We help people choose cameras and lenses, find the right film, rent equipment, process and scan their photographs, learn new skills, and become more confident photographers.
Photography equipment can be complicated, and online research often leaves people with more questions than answers. We enjoy talking with someone about what they want to photograph and helping them find the equipment, knowledge, or experience that will move them forward.
We work with everyone from people buying their first camera to experienced photographers preparing for a project, assignment, or trip.
What do you love about photography and running your shop?
The Bay Area has a storied history as a foundational hub for fine-art photography, dating back to Group f/64 in 1932 and photographers such as Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and Edward Weston. Looking Glass is part of that broader photographic legacy.
Throughout history, photography has been a technological evolution that continues to change the way we see the world around us and the way we relate to it.
There is also something truly special about a camera that is not also a phone. While a phone is full of distractions that can disconnect us, a camera is a tool literally designed to make you focus on something outside of yourself. It keeps you more connected to and observant of the world around you.
I love that photography gives people permission to be creative and connected, while also allowing for a deeply personal and insular experience of the world. It is both, which is why so many people who feel alienated in different ways can feel connected to something real because of a camera.
Running Looking Glass allows us to help people find that connection, whether they are discovering photography for the first time or have been making photographs for decades.
“A camera is a tool literally designed to make you focus on something outside of yourself.”
What is your sense of North Shattuck, and how will Looking Glass fold into the neighborhood?
This is a neighborhood that truly feels like home.
Looking Glass has been a Berkeley institution since 1971, the same year Chez Panisse opened its doors and the Cheese Board became a worker-owned collective. We have evolved with the times and survived as the last remaining dedicated camera store in the immediate East Bay area.
We are deeply connected to our community and use that knowledge and experience to define our operations and meet its diverse needs. Many of our customers were delighted to find out that we are now much closer to them and that they can walk to our store.
My partner, Jon, recently wrote an article titled “What a Town Protects, It Becomes.” North Shattuck is the definition of this idea. An excerpt from his article says it better than I ever could:
“When you walk down the street in the North Shattuck district, you immediately know you’re somewhere specific. It’s in the rhythm of the sidewalks, the morning lines outside the bakeries, and the familiar faces working the registers. There are some places in a town that do more than provide a service. They actually help create the town’s face.”
He continued:
“Any town can fill itself with businesses that could exist almost anywhere. What is harder to sustain is something distinctive: a place built around knowledge, care, craft, or devotion. A place that depends not just on transactions, but on trust, familiarity, and the shared feeling that this should exist here. And when a town keeps those places alive, it tells a much larger story about itself. It suggests a place with texture. A place with confidence in its own character. A place where local life is still considered worth investing in.”
It feels like North Shattuck is where Looking Glass was meant to be all along.
What are you looking forward to in your new shop?
We are really enjoying the mix of students and families who have been discovering us and stopping in.
Because of that, we are expanding into photography and memory-making products that are likely to appeal to kids of all ages and fit within a broader price range. This includes stickers, stationery, journals, and cameras made specifically for children.
Right now, costs have gotten so high for all of us that it is nice to have more items that are useful and available at a much lower price point. Someone may be shopping for a gift, looking for a creative activity, or wanting to support us and take home something useful and fun without having a large budget.
We want Looking Glass to be a place where someone can purchase a professional camera, but also a place where a child can discover a first camera, a student can buy a roll of film, or a neighbor can find a creative gift.
We are also excited to use the new space for classes, individual coaching, demonstrations, and community gatherings. We want people to feel comfortable walking in with a camera, a photograph, a technical question, or simply an idea they would like help exploring.
Another thing we are especially excited about, and have always pursued, is working with other local businesses and organizations to create more opportunities and resources for the community. Independent businesses can accomplish much more when they share ideas, knowledge, audiences, and support rather than operating in isolation.
Our new home in North Shattuck places us among businesses that deeply understand the value of collaboration and community investment. We hope to build partnerships that lead to new classes, events, creative projects, and experiences that none of us would be able to create quite as effectively on our own.
One current example is our new On Rose photography contest, which grew through collaboration with several local partners.
What events and programs are happening at Looking Glass?
One of our biggest new community projects is On Rose, a juried photography contest inspired by our move to Rose Street and the idea of la vie en rose: hope, renewal, resilience, transformation, and seeing the world through a different lens.
Participants may submit up to three photographs interpreting the theme through their own experiences and creative vision. The contest is being judged by three talented Bay Area photographers and educators, each with a distinctive photographic voice.
We designed On Rose to be approachable as well as meaningful. It is open to photographers at different experience levels, and entry is available on a sliding contribution scale.
More than anything, it is an invitation to slow down, explore an idea, and make photographs with intention.
Looking Glass is also partnering with a local art gallery to present an exhibition featuring contest winners and honorable mentions.
Learn more about On Rose and enter the photography contest
You are also taking photographers out into the field. Tell us about the Elkhorn Slough adventures.
Some things are best learned by going outside and making photographs.
This summer, Looking Glass is offering small-group wildlife photography adventures at Elkhorn Slough, one of California’s most remarkable coastal environments.
Participants photograph from a boat during the beautiful early-morning light, with opportunities to observe sea otters, harbor seals, pelicans, shorebirds, and other wildlife in and around the estuary.
The excursions combine access to an extraordinary environment with practical photographic guidance in the field. They are designed for people who want to strengthen their wildlife photography, become more comfortable photographing from a moving boat, or simply experience a memorable place with a camera in hand.
Upcoming excursions are scheduled for:
Saturday, August 15, 6:45–8:15 a.m.
Saturday, September 12, 7:15–8:45 a.m.
Participants meet the group at the departure location at Elkhorn Slough. Transportation is not provided.
These adventures reflect a larger part of our purpose. We do not only want to help people buy photographic equipment. We want to help them use it, understand it, and have meaningful experiences because of it.
What else can neighbors discover at Looking Glass?
We offer photography classes for different interests and experience levels, from camera fundamentals to more creative subjects such as long-exposure photography. Neighbors can also rent cameras and lenses, bring in film for processing and scanning, explore carefully selected new and pre-owned equipment, or schedule individual Photo Coaching for help with a camera, technique, or photographic goal.
The best way to get to know Looking Glass is simply to come in and talk with us. You do not need to be an expert or know exactly what you need. Bring your camera, your questions, a photograph you are working on, or an idea you would like help exploring.
We are very happy to be in North Shattuck and look forward to meeting more of our new neighbors.
Come Visit Looking Glass
Photography can begin with a new camera, a roll of film, a technical question, a class, or simply the desire to pay closer attention to the world around you. Whatever brings you through the door, the Looking Glass team is here to help you take the next step.
Stop by our new home on Rose Street, explore our classes and community programs, or bring us the camera question you have not been able to solve online. You do not need to arrive as an expert. Curiosity is more than enough.