By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Rosa “Rosie” Calvetti sits in a chair, surrounded by Del Rio history. She thumbs through a small stack of photographs and occasionally turns a photo over to see if there’s information written on the back to indicate who or what she’s looking at.
Stacks of black and white, color, oil painted, and sepia toned photos of different sizes surround her. It’s her life’s work. It’s Del Rio’s history one photograph at a time, and it’s time in the city draws near.
For 64 years Calvetti has worked at Warren Studio & Photography, 419 S. Main St. Where once families and individuals stood and sat for portraits that would hang in homes and public buildings now sits just boxes and boxes of negatives, some dating as far back as the 1940’s. The bulk of the equipment and some of the studio’s historic photos were sold to Gracie’s Finds, a second-hand store located just a few blocks away. The rest are waiting to go home with their owners … if they want them.
If you want to peruse what’s left in Warren Studio, visit the shop daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Calvetti said she will open the store later Tuesday due to a doctor’s appointment, but she’ll be there eventually.
As for Calvetti, the decision to close shop on a business that has been a part of Del Rio since the 1940’s was solely hers. It wasn’t a financial one or a decision based on declining health. She just felt it was time.
“I started working here and I was doing things like sweeping off the front of the walk, vacuuming the floors and taking out the trash. I eventually learned to make frames and take photos. Lately I have been doing a lot more restorations. Whatever it was I learned how to do it. If I didn’t know how to do it, I tried until I got it right,” Calvetti said.
Calvetti learned the business from Robert and Louise Warren. According to Calvetti, the original studio was located where Falcon Bank is now. It moved to the 400 block of South Main Street in the 1950’s and eventually settled into its current home in 1970. Before then, that building was home to the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce, an NCO Club and Wipff’s Furniture.
Calvetti learned the ins and outs of the business from the Warrens. She assisted Louise in taking photos of brides, learning how to place lights and how to fix the bride’s dress to get just the right angle. She learned to develop black and white and color photos, learned how to enlarge photos and even used oils to turn black and white and sepia toned photos into colored works of art.
“One time a woman came into the shop and wanted to hire me, so she demanded to see my portfolio. I told her I didn’t need one and motioned to the photos on the wall. I told her, ‘This is moy portfolio,’ and she said she loved my work,” Calvetti said.
In 1979 Robert Warren was severely injured in a fall at his home. Since he needed round the clock care from that point on, Calvetti was tasked with overseeing the business. She’s been the sole manager of the business since 1996 though she has had people helping her until just recently.
When Calvetti made the decision to close Warren Studio she did so with some hesitation. It was a place so familiar to her that she thought of setting up a small bedroom in the back so she could live there. After all, she spent most of her time there, so much so that her husband often called her and reminded her to remember of her life outside the studio.
The building has already been sold but the contracts have not yet been completed, giving Calvetti a chance to allow Del Rioans as well as people from surrounding communities to come in and retrieve prints and negatives of themselves, family and friends. Monday afternoon, Cookie Gulick, Ellen Wood and Ann Hodge sifted through the boxes of black and white negatives, seeking treasure from times long gone. They found numerous envelopes with friends and family and brought them to Calvetti to reminisce and to pay for. Calvetti said the money collected will be to keep the lights on for as long as necessary to give people a chance to come and get photos and move the remainder of the items and equipment out.
“Initially I planned on closing Feb. 29, but then I hesitated and decided to stay open a little longer. I may close sometime next week, but I don’t know. Once I sign the contract we have to clear out,” Calvetti said. “Once it’s closed, that’s it.”
Calvetti said she wasn’t sure what would happen to any negatives or prints that aren’t picked up. She said some family members have encouraged her to take it all home, but she said she’s retiring to leave work behind. Bringing it home would go against that plan.
As she looks through envelopes of photos, some filled with familiar faces and others filled with familiar places, all of them tell a story about Del Rio. There are Queen City Belles, former pageant queens, high school sports stars, babies, high school graduates, brides, families and so much more. People who see the photos often react with a smile, a gasp or the occasional tear. It’s a tribute to the business and its longevity in this community.
“A lot of businesses came and went but we stayed. I just feel that now’s the time to give it up,” Calvetti said. “I’m still a workaholic. I’m not sure what I’ll do when I retire. I want to travel, but I’ll probably just pick up my camera and be like Pollo Barragan (a photographer from San Felipe who has chronicled life in that barrio for years) and just take pictures.”
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
