The Photo Lab: Building community, one print at a time

Long before our phones could instantly show us every photograph we take, we had to develop the film inside our camera before seeing what images we captured.

And while many of us just dropped off that mystery mix of magic and mistakes somewhere that could churn out both negatives and prints in about an hour, my father always took his film rolls to a local photo lab for more personalized service.

That was cool.

Because I loved going to the photo lab with my father when I was a kid. I can still hear the bell ring on the door, smell the chemicals in the air and feel the anticipation as we waited for someone to emerge from the back for my favorite part: Pulling out the magnifying tool for our first glimpse of the negatives.

Because as much as I loved just looking at my father’s photographs, I loved even more getting to see how they were brought to life, feeling very adult as I soaked in every step of the process from deciding which frames to print and how to make them look their best. 

And though the exchanges at the photo lab were technically business transactions, with my father trying to make a living as a professional photographer and the lab tech performing a job, their interactions always felt less about money and more about art to me: Two craftspeople working together to make the best product possible, each knowing that they couldn’t do their best work without the other. 

And I felt a bit of that artistic camaraderie again recently when a photo lab in San Francisco started printing a magazine. Yes, in this day of social media posts that last maybe seconds, this lab decided to post permanent photographs in the form of an actual printed magazine.

“We wanted to make a magazine to foster more connection in the community we’ve built with so many photographers over the many years Photoworks has been around," said Rhonda Smith, explaining that she and her co-workers were “definitely inspired by Pamplemousse, a magazine founded by a former Photoworks employee.”

Each time Photoworks has asked people to submit photos for these guest magazines, Smith, who served as senior editor, curator and interviewer for the lab’s third magazine, said “we have gotten a couple hundred submissions, with the second edition receiving nearly 500 submissions.”

When asked how many copies they print, she said that number is based on how many photographers are featured in each magazine “and the amount we could realistically sell and be able to break even on production costs. Also as those of us who work on the magazine are also doing our every day tasks in the store, it can take longer than we plan to finish it, but we do hope to have two annually.”

You can certainly argue that such an endeavor is far from altruistic, likely ultimately launched as another way to make money; but everyone with a photograph featured in the magazine was offered a free copy, allowing each person to see their artwork published in a high-quality product full of beautiful and interesting photographs, which is an exhilarating experience no matter how, or how many times, it happens.

And having a print product feels almost revolutionary in today's world, where we keep getting more connected than ever in all the ways that don't matter, while feeling less and less connected in all the ways that do matter: those tangible, tactile ways of meeting face-to-face, shaking hands, and even sharing a drink or a meal together.

Which is exactly what happened when the magazine was celebrated with a launch party, a gathering of real people in real time instead of in a digital post that people scroll past and forget even before the next post appears. And standing there by a counter to pick up my magazine with the smell of chemicals in the air, surrounded by photographs and photographers, reminded me of how I first fell in love with taking pictures: Going to the photo lab with my father.*

That was super cool.

Another photographer whose love for the art form was inspired by his father is my friend Nathan, who will forever love traveling and taking pictures because of the road trips his father took him on after they finally met.

See just some of the photo adventures we've had in the video below:

*My father's birthday was this month, so I would like to wish the man who always encouraged me to both form and express my own opinions on everything a very happy birthday, and to thank him for introducing me to the wonderful world of photography.