Meet the crew
List of Services
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Robert Kepko - OwnerList Item 2
Robert is the principal owner of Gulf Coast Camera. While earning a bachelors in business management from Temple, he began his career in the photography industry in 1990 in Philadelphia, working for Camera Shop Inc and later Ritz Camera. In 2004, he moved to Northwest Florida, where he served as a regional trainer for Ritz Camera. In 2009, he launched Rob’s Camera, and in 2012 merged with Calagaz Photo. In 2023, Rob and his business partner reacquired the Pensacola location, marking the beginning of Gulf Coast Camera. With nearly three decades of experience running stores, Rob brings a deep passion for camera gear and a passion for the hunt of the next rare camera.
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Josh Kern - ManagerList Item 1
Josh joined the team in 2013 shortly after earning an A.S. in Photographic Technology. After working in each department for more than 10 years, when Gulf Coast Camera came to be Josh fit right into the role as manager.
His favorite things to photograph are his kids. He also loves night landscapes and light painting.
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Frank Muller - Owner
Frank and Rob have been partners in business for almost 3 decades. Like brothers, they can work through any situation and get the job done. Frank brings a broad business background to the team.
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Wendy Kepko - Owner / Sales Team / Repairs CoordinatorList Item 3
Wendy has been at the heart of the team since the beginning. Taking care of administrative tasks and being the smiling face customers come to expect. Wendy loves taking care of the garden and the animals around our store!
Her favorite thing to photograph is birds and macro.
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Emmy Carpenter - Sales Team / Rental Lead
Emmy is our outgoing and bubbly personality that is infectious to those around her! She is ready to help you choose a camera or the next lens in your kit or to get prints off your phone!
Emmy also takes care of our rental department.
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Jeffery Tremmel - Sales Team
Jeff is our detail oriented guy. He is passionate about film and Polaroid and can help you pick a great point & shoot for your travels. He has a broad knowledge of photography, in general and would be a great person to speak with when choosing your new gear.
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Mason Sparks - Sales Team
Mason brings a passion for film and is our newest employee. He is very knowledgable about both vintage and current gear.
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Tracy Ladd - Sales Team / Video Archiving / EducatorList Item 4
Tracy is another graduate of Pensacola State College with an Associates in Photo Tech. She started with us over 10 years ago, but moved on to another job after a few years. When she heard Rob was taking over and Gulf Coast Camera was hiring she was 1st in line to join the team again. She is often in the back preserving your VHS and other memories, but she also teaches one to one classes and small group classes.
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Jesse Kepko - Used Equipment Team Lead / Buyer
Jesse oversees used inventory coming and going and he is our main buyer. He lives photography and can't wait to put any vintage lens onto his digital camera to see what he can create.
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Kincade Essex - Lab Team Lead
Kincade oversees the lab and makes sure the printers and scanners are running at full capacity.
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Jayden Lavendusky - Lab Tech
Jayden can be found in the lab scanning, printing and preserving your film or restoing your old photos. When she isn't in the lab she is probably out surfing.
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Valerie Jacobs - Online Support / Educator / Buyer
Valerie joined us in 2021 while running an event photography business on the side. She primarily processes incoming used gear and oversees the store's online sales logistics. She also offers one to one lessons on camera basics, shooting manual, artificial lighting and lightroom thanks to her years of professional shooting experience. We are thankful to have her on the team; she is able to handle any task or project with care and focus!
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Edward Rodriguez - Video Specialist / Content Creation / Buyer
Eddy is the creative behind our social media videos. He is a tech geek who is aware of the new products available. His knowledge is an invaluable asset in the inventory we buy. If you have questions on video or Sony stop by to see him.
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Tanner Palamides - Online Sales / Buyer
Tanner joined us shortly after beggining his interest in photography. He now publishes used equipment to our website and enjoys working on videos around the Pensacola area.
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Spiros Zachos - Online Sales
Spiros comes with a background in graphic design and magazine publishing. From photography, interviews, distribution and every other little detail you can think of and more. He spent many years teaching locally at the college level and his broad experience and knowlege are great assets to the store. We can hand Spiros any rare or obscure item and he will be able to find out whatever there is to know about it.
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John Hoile - Used Equipment Quality Assurance
John is our main person responsible for testing and cleaning the used equipment before it goes up front of online. He is very meticulous and mechanically savvy. He even rebuilt his own Polaroid SX-70 to shoot 600 film and have its own battery.
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Jen Kepko - Shipping / Logistics
Jen is the reason your packages arrive in such great shape! Every day she pulls, packs and sends out multiple dozens of packages to destinations around the world.
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Dan Crago - Used Equipment Quality Assurance
Dan came to us after knowing Rob for years at the cigar store. Working with the team in the back, Dan tests and cleans many of the items you'll find on our website.
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Henry Ellenburg - Online Support
Henry is another avid film user at our store. He assists in every department but primarily helps online sales run smoothly.
The History of Gulf Coast Camera
1990s - Before the Store
While the name came about in 2023, our history goes back to before the days of Ritz Camera (for those of you that remember that name). Rob, the owner started working in 1990 at Camera Shop Inc in Philadelphia while in college where he quickly was promoted to store manager. soon after he became a district manager and remained in that position after Camera Shop Inc was acquired by Ritz Camera.
2000s - The Start of Small Business
After moving to Florida in 2004 to be near family, Ritz knew they couldn't lose Rob and made him the Southeastern Regional Trainer. This was a pivotal role for the future of Gulf Coast Camera because in this role, Rob met many of our current friends and business partners.
When Ritz declared bankruptcy in 2009, Rob saw the future possibilities of an independent camera store where Ritz was unable to remain flexible through the overtaking of digital cameras.
He bought the Ritz Location in Pensacola (Next to Wendy's across from Pensacola State College) changing the name to Rob's Camera. The 1st team was Rob, his wife Wendy and their lab tech Michelle.
Growing steadily, the store moved up the road to what is now TBS Comics (Belvedere Park Plaza) a year later.
2012 - The Merger
In 2012, Calagaz Photo, out of Mobile AL, was looking to expand. Rob saw this as an opportunity to bring his knowledge and passion for used camera gear to meet the half century plus legacy of the once largest independent camera store in the south east. Rob's Camera became Calagaz Photo - Pensacola and Rob because the manager and head of used gear for both Calagaz locations.
2014 - A Decade of Growth
In 2014 we needed more space and moved to our current location where the building was tailored specifically to our needs and future plans of the time. Another major turning point for the store was when Rob proposed we start doing used buying events for other stores. In 2016 we had our 1st event with a store in California. Since then we have expanded this partnership to every corner of the United States. This has enabled us to provide more jobs and to make available a far wider selection of photography gear in the NW Florida area. It also has required a more robust system of managing inventory, obtaining service and overall logistics of processing multiple thousands of used items a year.
2023 - America's Newest Camera Store
After many years of growth with Calagaz, we also experienced many hinderances to even greater possibilities and a deeper connection to our community. The quest to reacquire the Pensacola store began with Rob partnering with is long time friend Frank. They worked out an amicable split and Gulf Coast Camera was born four days before Christmas 2023.
Immediately we began reaching out to our vendor reps and manufactures about having a stronger presence in Pensacola. This started with having our Grand Reopening which saw more than 500+ visitors over two days.
We now have the largest selection of camera gear from Texas to the Atlantic Ocean. We are focused on our Gulf Coast and online customers by providing the best service and the best quality selection.
gulf coast camera
HOURS
Mon - Friday: 9am - 6pm
Sat: 10am - 5pm
Sun: Closed