My Film Lab Is A Failure: What Happened? 

Tbh It seems like you gained a lot of insight and self-awareness in a respectively short amount of time, which is super commendable. You chose to prioritize your relationships, quality of time, and artform over a sunk cost fallacy. Mad respect.

I ran a one man business for a few years. Everyone loved the product and it actually made money, as long as I put in long hours and was on the road every day. As soon as I employed people and paid them properly, all I had was turnover and not enough of it came my way to make the headaches and responsibilities worthwhile. If you're not careful a business can run you, and it's good you found that out early, disappointing as it inevitably is. As a film lover, I process mine in the sink at home. I could afford to pay but enjoy the physical connection - strictly as a hobby.

Aw, man. I'm sorry to hear that. Good to hear that you decided to prioritizing your life and mental health, though.

Photographers say it all the time "I have this great idea for a project..." then they love the gratification of being told "that sounds amazing and never bother to make it, same goes for businesses etc. YOU DID IT! You got up and actually did it, it's a shame that the odds were against you but you should be incredibly proud of what you achieved.

I worked at a custom photo lab for about 14 years here in S.F. Light Waves. I was there when we went digital upstairs and I finally got to sit down and print. Some years after I stopped working there the lab closed, but our front counter man opened up a processing lab in Oakland. A big deal..you need some luck. How the tide turns. If some other labs close, you can pick up their biz. You can mail your exposed film to some labs to get processed and scanned. His Oakland lab is humming and he now has seven employees.

Glad to have been a part of the process and to have been a patron of the lab, Chris. Godspeed and best of luck to you going forward.

Brave! And Bravo! It takes a lot to say and admit all the things you mentioned. Good luck and can’t wait to see what your future brings .

Thanks for sharing your lab journey, and best of luck for what you do next!

Very sad to hear, you're closing your lab. What an endeavour! Really good to hear, what you've learned about yourself from this experience & that you're prioritizing yourself. Respect! Thank you for sharing. Very much looking forward to seeing what the future has in store for you.

I'm sorry the lab didn't work out in the long run man. I salute you for offering an awesome service to the film community for as long as you could! I'm sure the whole experience was rewarding and worthwhile. I can't wait to see what you get into when you start the RU-vid videos back up! Let me know if you're ever in the Kansas City area and we can go shoot around!

Oh no! I’m glad you had some reflection time and you chose yourself. I completely understand. We all wish you the best and this is great insight to someone who hopes to have a film lab one day!

Hey man you had a dream and went for it, that's more then alot of people can say.

I remember being so excited that a film lab opened in Milwaukee of all places and I met so much people who were getting into film just like me. I’m really sad that it has to close but I really appreciate your efforts! You have no idea how much I gushed about film to my friends after your opening. (Ending it on a bittersweet note, I haven’t sent in my order yet and I’m 95% sure the roll is gonna be blank 😭)

Thank you for sharing your story. Empathize with this most definitely and had to make a similarly difficult condition to close my lab

Having to scan other people's film without some magic box that just did it is definitely one idea of my own personal hell. I love shooting film, I enjoy developing, but lordy do I hate scanning!

Sorry to hear of this. I’ve always been aware of the razor thin profit margins with film processing. It does take upfront capital.. lots of it.. and a few years of operating in the red before the black ink becomes dominant. Best of luck with your future endeavors sir! Please keep this channel alive and please keep sharing your photographic adventures with us!

Reminds me of when I was in full artist mode and it was similar in taking all of my time and energy and likes you said... money. I wasn't good at the business side, and can relate to you in many ways. I feel similarly in that I'm glad I had that time but it was hard too. It was two things at the same time. On the relationship side it was hard too, so I can relate to that too. Anyway, I think what you did is very brave and interesting and feel like your intentions were super solid. I hope for a quick recovery and am looking forward to more videos and interesting things. Thanks for sharing and putting yourself out there. Creativity takes courage, you got it!

Everything you said resonates with me a lot…. I ran my film lab from home, got into it because I love film and developing. Turning it into a business killed my enthusiasm for it. Not because of the work, but I frankly got tired of ppl’s expired film. I didn’t want to exclude developing expired film, but it was a horrible idea. “Why does it look so awful? I want my money back”. Maybe because it expired 30 years ago… Plus some people really stressed me out. Like someone calling me 6 months after delivering scans, asking me if I still have them because they deleted it yada yada. Unfortunately that kinda stuff was going on on a daily basis. And ppl doing wedding pix with disposables with no flash and complaining they’re too dark 😝 I’m just not equipped to deal with that everyday. It’s my fault tho, I should have been more firm on my policies. I felt relieved when when I shut it down.

Really appreciate you sharing this. As a small business owner going through my own sort of transitional phase, I know firsthand how hard it is to admit when things just aren't working, or don't feel right. I also see that "real job" lurking over the horizon and it scares the crap out of me. I'm still running from it but hope you find some peace of mind in whatever you do next!

Even though we've not met, proud of you for giving this a shot and realising soon in the process that it's not something you're getting value out of vs relationships and other stuff. The burnout/overwhelm is REAL. Even when it is a "good thing". If you ever want to pivot to a different kind of work, happy to chat with you as it may unlock some future remote working possibilities, and time for you to shoot and hang with pals all over.

Always be grateful for your mistakes. They will make you wiser IF you pay attention to them. You have my best on your future endeavors! Regards!!

Aw man, I wish I would have been there to help you out man! So sorry to hear that it didn’t work out. Maybe you’ll find somebody for business side of things. Big respect for trying and also making the call to quit. That takes courage. All the best to your future projects :)

Love you homie! The future is bright for the the photo dept!

Very insightful and mature reflection. Onwards and upwards!

Props for going out and trying it in the first place!

You’re not a failure, Chris. You’re a flippin G.

Hi Andrew here in Ottawa Canada 🇨🇦, been following you. I am sorry the lab did not work out, but remember No regrets, you tried and you decided to move on, having your own business is tough, I did it for quality assurance consulting but it was 7 days a week and long hours and it was not sustainable, I learned from the experience and that’s what I take away as the positives. I look forward to seeing more from you and wish you all the best for the future, I know it will work out for you, Cheers

Bummed this didn't work out the way you wanted it too, but I think you killed it with your attempt. Selfishly though, I am happy to hear that more videos are coming out sooner rather than later. You have a perspective on this platform that I think more people need to hear and see when it comes to being an artist, especially in this era of consumer culture and hype. I'm excited to see what comes next!

Good luck with your future endeavors

Just stumbled upon this video. Sorry to hear you closed your wet side photolab. I too was a photographer and had a photolab in the UK. back throughout the 1980’s and 90’s Processed E6, C41 dip and dunk. Following up with a 40 inch EP2 print processing a Durst miniprinter and enlarger. 4 staff ran that side. No work forced closure of my wet side lab in the early 2000’s. Sad day when I saw all the equipment and machines go in the skip. Couldn’t find a buyer for any machine. Laid off several staff. They were like my family. It was a tough time. Best wishes from me here.

Love you man and it's far better to have tried and failed than never taking the chance.

OK, new sub. Big up yourself mate! You gave it a go. I remember when I was trading used gear & friends kept saying I should open up a camera shop. but I felt if I had to do it for work I may not have fun anymore. But I thought about trying to be a Nikon authorized dealer. & service. Then it's 2010 & traditional camera shops in the valley was closing. Luckily I work in the heart of the Sam Fernando Valley , the Burbank, Hollywood, Warner Studios. We got labs.

So so proud of you frennnnn

Kudos for trying and challenging the what if. You gained more insight.

You did a good job! It's worth having such good try. Take a rest and carry your camera to go out to shoot what you want!

really sad to hear this but it seems like you learned SO much, and it’s really brave and admirable for you to have made the decision you did and then to come on here and explain as well. everything you’ve done takes so much guts!!! best of luck for the future. i’m sure it holds great things for you!!

Dipping a toe in the water and finding out it's not for you is laudable. I own a lab in a minor sized city and the challenges are daily. Film in my town has grown by 400% since 2016 and keeping up with that using obsolete and unsupported equipment is most of that challenge. How much to automate a lab depends on volume per day and the only way to achieve the required volume per day and put the lab on a paying basis is to automate. And even if you can find working processing, scanning and printing machines they will have been rode hard and put away wet by the time you get them. Even Christopher Nolan can't warp enough time to allow maintenance and production in the same day. And then, in my urban experience, about one-in-four 35mm films are from single use cameras and there is no point in processing these in any way other than automated. One in four films yielding marginal results may subsidise the enthusiast films that come to your lab, but only if they can be turned around inexpensively for the lab as well as the customer. If you ever again get the itch to operate a lab, buying in to an existing one might work. But who knows when the film boom will end. And it will end. Tracking my volume, so far in August 2023 it seems last year (2022) was the peak for film. Maybe Kodak's and Fuji's recent initiatives will yield a second turnaround and boost things. I have no idea, and neither do they. Black and white had never gone away and Ilford appears strong(ish). A dedicated BW lab with full darkroom printing facility and an experienced (and talented) darkroom printer working part-time can solidify a lab in a community, as long as it doesn't over-reach into colour, could be a workable small (small!) business. Local Art colleges are a resource for looking into opportunities.

Artists are generally terrible with business. It takes way more than a dream. You HAVE to have a strong business side. You are a visionary. I would hire a salesman and office manager. You could actually be very successful

I felt sympathy for you until I heard you use the word “creative” as a noun.🤨😔🤪😂

You needed to charge a lot more!!! That would have cut the number of customers but kept or increased your income. Too late now.

It's a pity but it sounds like you wanted to do the impossible from the very beginning. Labs are expensive to run and this has to be reflected in the pricing (high prices) or the scale of the business (a lot of orders and an organization that goes with it). From what I hear you realized that when you maxed out on your time and realized you were still not making enough... I've been running a (very different) business for the past 10 years after being an employee in the same business line for the previous 10 with the goal of offering a quality, boutique service. We wanted to keep prices low but we realized almost immediately that we had to raise prices if we wanted to make it and we did that plus we organized the company better with staff and a lot of rules but we only employed people who are passionate as us so that it doesn't feel like a chore (for us and hopefully for our staff). Luckily clients followed us and still think we're better than the larger and cheaper alternatives (and worth the markup) so we did not have to close down. But one thing is certain, my partner and I are not anymore 100% hands on client work. We're becoming more and more business owners and less and less artisans and I kind of regret that,though not to the point of wanting to go back (I guess the extra money helped with the decision :) I do understand your point of view and the decision you're making. One thing that has been said here a lot and I think is very true is that you e probably learned a lot both regarding developing films and business. It's been tough I understand but I assure you will reap the benefits going forward!

I mean, duh.

❤

yeah, you went public, that's your problem. My lab is limited to only 12 clients and it's not affordable for the random Johns but it's affordable for artists who ask for grants, funding, or are neporichbabies.

You need a Frontier

I am sorry to hear about the lab closing. How did you think you could open a lab without a c41 machine or a good scanner? Not trying to rub salt in the wound. Just seems very short sighted. I wish you luck in your endeavors. Sharp Photo out of Eau Claire WI is a great alternative for film processing. Been in business for 40 years. Fast turn around and probably the best prices in the US.

Your lab failed, but it was not a failure ❤

you look like a pixar character

You…didn’t have a film processor? Were you just using Paterson tanks or something? 😮

Appreciate the honesty but any business set-up without enough funding/ correct resources are always going to fail ultimately. A good idea and intention is unfortunately only about 10% of a good business. GL for the future

A victim of your own success

Don't get a real job please ! You won't be happy and it seems to me that you're giving up too easily and too publicly Especially if you want to, or no choice but to pursue the freelance path in photography Where giving up is not an option, it's just on to the next job No matter what that is it's going to require creative problem solving which is exactly what's missing in the here and now Chin up and just sort it out Cheers