Film go bye bye?
Say it ain't so!
Today I walked cheerfully into my favorite "pro" film processing lab to get my "special" black and white film developed for an outrageous fee because I don't want to invest in the chemicals to develop it myself. See, I could do it. I have the know-how. I took a class that was all about it in college. But that was college. I had more time then. These days I have to take extra time at lunch to get over and drop off or pick up film. Ahhh, I am getting off the subject.
So, as I said, I walked cheerfully into the lab and plopped my 2 rolls of Kodak Tri-X plus ASA 400, 36 exposure, black and white film in front of the smiling clerk at the desk. The same smiling clerk who dutifully takes my film every time I cheerfully plop it in front of her...weekly it seems.
This time it was different, though. This time she looked sadly back at me and said something that turned my otherwise cheerfull ritual into a scene that I will never forget.
"Opps, we're not processing film anymore."
"Opps?" I said with a stunned look, I'm sure...
"What do you mean? Is the machine broken? Have you run out of chemical? What do you mean?"
"No, we've discontinued our film processing service."
As I stood there, fighting back a tear, a few things started running through my mind:
A) if this is the case, where am I going to go to process this film?
B) what if everyone decides to discontinue their processing?
C) then what am I going to do with all of the film that's still in my freezer, unused!
I realized that I had just muttered these things to the lady behind the counter, who gave me a reassuring nod and said "Well, we're just following the trends of labs all over the country. We're actually behind the times in doing this..."
"Ok....thanks. Sorry I won't be seeing you guys anymore..." and I walked out into the brilliant sunshine...stunned at what I had just heard.
Paul was in the truck waiting, as he went along to get some fresh air. When I told him the news, he too had a stunned look on his face. "Then what DO they do?" he said. "Got me....print stuff for all the fancy smancy digi-folk out there, I guess" I said. Then I spit on the ground. (this part about spitting I added for drama...pretty good, huh?)
I jumped into my truck and drove down the street to Firehouse...my second favorite "pro" lab. Inside I found my favorite little sales guy, who always seems happy and "on the ball", even when being yelled at by an angry customer because some guy in the back cropped his negative wrong, or mounted his print on the wrong foam core.
"Hi! What can we do for you?" he asked.
"Well, I was just told by Matrix that they aren't processing film anymore, and I've come to see if you will...."
A sneaky grin came across his face.
"Of course we will. Especially if Matrix won't!"
"But are you going to quit anytime soon?" I asked, nervously awaiting his answer.
"Nope! That's about half of our business!"
Satisfied by this quantification, I handed over my film, to be developed for an outrageous fee because I don't want to invest in the chemicals to develop it myself.
I guess that will have to change.
Today I walked cheerfully into my favorite "pro" film processing lab to get my "special" black and white film developed for an outrageous fee because I don't want to invest in the chemicals to develop it myself. See, I could do it. I have the know-how. I took a class that was all about it in college. But that was college. I had more time then. These days I have to take extra time at lunch to get over and drop off or pick up film. Ahhh, I am getting off the subject.
So, as I said, I walked cheerfully into the lab and plopped my 2 rolls of Kodak Tri-X plus ASA 400, 36 exposure, black and white film in front of the smiling clerk at the desk. The same smiling clerk who dutifully takes my film every time I cheerfully plop it in front of her...weekly it seems.
This time it was different, though. This time she looked sadly back at me and said something that turned my otherwise cheerfull ritual into a scene that I will never forget.
"Opps, we're not processing film anymore."
"Opps?" I said with a stunned look, I'm sure...
"What do you mean? Is the machine broken? Have you run out of chemical? What do you mean?"
"No, we've discontinued our film processing service."
As I stood there, fighting back a tear, a few things started running through my mind:
A) if this is the case, where am I going to go to process this film?
B) what if everyone decides to discontinue their processing?
C) then what am I going to do with all of the film that's still in my freezer, unused!
I realized that I had just muttered these things to the lady behind the counter, who gave me a reassuring nod and said "Well, we're just following the trends of labs all over the country. We're actually behind the times in doing this..."
"Ok....thanks. Sorry I won't be seeing you guys anymore..." and I walked out into the brilliant sunshine...stunned at what I had just heard.
Paul was in the truck waiting, as he went along to get some fresh air. When I told him the news, he too had a stunned look on his face. "Then what DO they do?" he said. "Got me....print stuff for all the fancy smancy digi-folk out there, I guess" I said. Then I spit on the ground. (this part about spitting I added for drama...pretty good, huh?)
I jumped into my truck and drove down the street to Firehouse...my second favorite "pro" lab. Inside I found my favorite little sales guy, who always seems happy and "on the ball", even when being yelled at by an angry customer because some guy in the back cropped his negative wrong, or mounted his print on the wrong foam core.
"Hi! What can we do for you?" he asked.
"Well, I was just told by Matrix that they aren't processing film anymore, and I've come to see if you will...."
A sneaky grin came across his face.
"Of course we will. Especially if Matrix won't!"
"But are you going to quit anytime soon?" I asked, nervously awaiting his answer.
"Nope! That's about half of our business!"
Satisfied by this quantification, I handed over my film, to be developed for an outrageous fee because I don't want to invest in the chemicals to develop it myself.
I guess that will have to change.
posted by MadFlyTom at 3:42 PM
1 Comments:
That's what you get for being soooo old fashioned. Time to take off those knickers and kick it with some pajama pants! Figuratively speaking, of course.
:)
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