Bringing it all into focus: Chuck Rubin found the right successor for his camera business in Alex O’Nan

By RUSS BROWN Photos By Matt Johnson 

After 37 years, 80-year-old Chuck Rubin was ready to turn his Louisville used camera business over to a younger entrepreneur. Alex O’Nan, 47, a longtime camera lover and a frequent visitor to Rubin’s shop, was eager to begin a new career. 

It was a perfect match. Thus, as of Aug. 1 “Chuck Rubin’s Photographics” became “Abandoned Cameras”, located at 3418 Frankfort Ave. Rubin recently explained how the sale came about. “Business had slowed down, but it was still fun and still good, so I stayed there,” he said. “One day this tall, skinny guy (O’Nan) came in and said, ‘Do you want to sell this place?’ And I said, ‘Hmmm, I’m 80, maybe I should’, so I did. And Alex has been running it ever since and doing a great job, by the way. He has become very popular in the camera business very quickly.” 

But Rubin is quick to correct anyone who suggests he is retiring. “I’m not retired, I’m unemployed,” he said. “That’s different. I haven’t figured out (his next step) yet.” 

For now, O’Nan said Rubin is still very much a presence in the building, keeping an office nearby his former business, and that the two work together attending camera shows and seeking out used and vintage equipment. 

“I want his advice,” O’Nan said. “I want him involved. He’s the kind of guy that, yes he’s old, but he doesn’t want to sit around at home doing nothing. His brain is still sharp, he loves doing it and he’ll do it for as long as he can.” 

Rubin, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and had lived in Florida, has called Louisville home for 55 years. “Look it up, I’m a Louisvillian,” he said. 

He became interested in cameras and photography “around 1970,” he said. “I was doing ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ and went to the DAV to look for props. I found this black box; and we started messing with it. We found a secret button, pushed it and it opened, and there was cherry wood, red leather and brass. It was really beautiful. It was an old camera from the 30s and that’s what got me started collecting cameras, and that led to collecting more cameras and then shooting pictures with them.” 

What was Rubin’s occupation before he went into the second-hand camera business? “I was pretending to be an insurance adjuster,” he joked. 

Asked what he was most proud of as a businessman, Rubin didn’t hesitate. “I feel most proud, somebody buys something or they don’t, and when they’re leaving they say, ‘Chuck, thank you for being here. I really appreciate it.’ When I was a kid and somebody gave me a compliment like that, I figured my mother paid them. It took me 80 years to realize that people were serious about it, and it felt great.” 

Before O’Nan’s offer came along, Rubin said he’d had inquiries about selling, but never seriously considered them. But they say timing is everything, and O’Nan’s was ideal. 

“I looked around at how much stuff I had and I thought about what I was going to do when I retired, which should have been 15 years ago,” Rubin said. “If I sell, I don’t have to clear all this stuff out, and it seemed like a good idea, so I sold.” 

For O’Nan, his move into entrepreneurship came after a long list of jobs, which he described as “kind of bouncing around” trying to find the right fit. 

When he bought Rubin’s business, he had recently completed an internship at Angel’s Envy distillery. A native of Shelbyville, Ky., O’Nan attended Kentucky State University for a few years, then transferred to U of L as a photography major. But that didn’t last either and then he was offered his “dream job,” running trains to Nashville and Cincinnati as the conductor for nearly 20 years. 

However, he got Covid and had to have physical therapy for long Covid issues for six months. He decided it wouldn’t be safe to return to the train, so he resigned. Stints in property management, content creation and podcast editing followed before he finished his college degree at Indiana University.

O’Nan said he became interested in cameras when he was eight years old and his dad brought home a Nikon FM and he found himself sneaking it out of the bag when his father was at work. At 13, his uncle, who was a photographer, gave him a photo book and a roll of film for Christmas.

“And ever since, it’s been a part of my life,” he said. “Railroad life was pretty difficult and I actually used photography as a sort of coping mechanism (on the train trips). Making photographs was against the rules, but there was so much beauty and symmetry that I just couldn’t help myself.”

He said he had been frequenting Rubin’s business since he started driving, and earlier this year he believed he might have an opportunity to buy it.

“Once I knew the Angel’s Envy internship wasn’t going to turn into a full-time position and that Chuck was interested in selling, I would go to Chuck’s for a couple hours once a week and just hang out so he could get to know me,” O’Nan said. “I wasn’t ignorant to the fact that taking over something he had worked so hard on for so long wasn’t going to be easy for him.”

O’Nan said he doesn’t plan any major changes immediately, but he does have long-range goals that include expanding into other areas of photography and making sure Rubin’s legacy is protected.

“My first goal is to keep the spirit of Chuck Rubin alive, no matter what I do with the shop,” he said. “I would like to open a community dark room and we are in the process of putting together a lab to develop, scan and print 35 mm and 120 film. I’d love to move to a new location that’s a little easier to find and has more space. I’d love to also have an art gallery dedicated to photography and space to teach some classes.”