Newbie from London

[justinwelch]

Hi All (those of you who bother to read these),

I'm a total newbie here so please forgive my ignorance and dumb questions I might ask from time to time.

About a month ago I attended a 2 day wetplate collodion course and the bug bit! I've just bought my camera and lenses and the chemicals are on the way. As I also love shooting film, I've purchased some film holders and some film. I'm just too scared to try load them as I might just ruin the whole batch! I'll get there some day!

I'm also planning on processing my B&W sheet film at my studio in the near future! I need to find somewhere in London that does colour processing (open to recommendations)!

As a total beginner in the world of LF, I'm happy to meet up with like-minded photographers (who'd be prepared to put up with me) to chat LF and shoot together! Again open to shout outs!

Just to clarify in based in London (UK).

Chat soon
Justin

[John Kasaian]

Welcome aboard!

[David Schaller]

Welcome Justin. Just do it!

[mfoot]

Hey,

I'm based near Greenwich and while I don't post here much (beginner, not much to add), I do read! This popped up and I just got round to replying. Was it the E5 John Brewer course? I've been eyeballing it a lot!

I've started work on a 'historic remnants' project[1] as a learning experience so am also getting used to my camera. I wouldn't mind a few more outings - I've had lots of people interested in the car!era around tower bridge already. Let me know if you're somewhere central and we could meet up :)

1 - https://www.mfoot.com/blog/2016/06/26/historic-remnants-1-the-bascule-bridges-of-rotherhithe-and-surrey-quays/

[brighamr]

Hi Justin

where abouts are you in london ?
I'm in south london but work in town generally

what camera did you get

you may want to look up "film and darkroom user" forum for lots of london based people that are very nice and helpful

b/w film processing and printing is very easy to get reasonable results
then comes the years of trying to get perfection much like photography ...

robin

[richydicky]

Hello Justin

For C41 you could try Artful Dodgers Imaging near Chancery Lane really nice guys to deal with or Rapid Eye in Shoreditch who are a few minutes from where I work.

I've been looking at that wetplate course too but want to convert a film holder first. I have just been messing around with a converted Polaroid but shoot and process everything including instant and dry tintype and am looking out for a proper setup and maybe larger. What type of studio do you have?

Richard

[John Kasaian]

Welcome aboard! What a cool project documenting those bridges.

[RJ-]

Welcome Justin. I hope you enjoy the city for large format work.

For colour processing, Genesis Imaging have a great service:

http://genesisimaging.co.uk/

The guys there are really friendly and helpful and their cost point for film processing and work is reasonable. The only challenge I find is that the distance within London is quite far out, located in Fulham.

http://www.bayeux.co.uk/

Their work and service is up to professional standards although if you are just starting off in large format photography, there is little benefit in the extra cost for rapid turnovers. Bayeux are more central and their costs reflect the challenges of running a professional lab in the heart of London.
home

http://www.metroimaging.co.uk/home

A decade ago, Metro Imaging had franchises in every photographic hotspot. The chain has shrunk substantially. The Soho branch has disappeared a long time ago and the Clerkenwell branch is as close as it gets to the London College of Printing. I like Genesis Imaging more, but perhaps that is because the working relationship and consistency matched my work flow better.

There are (were) other labs which treated negatives and slides as disposables, scrumpling them up mercilessly on the light box and dismissing any scratching damage on the premise that they could clone out any flaws. This mentality of digital correction rather than operator respect for archival negative/slide preservation and respect pushed me away from trying cold calling. Unfortunately many lab operators tend to think of digital instead of film emulsion based work flow and the respect which this accords.

The wet plate collodion course must be fascinating. I'd love to know if there are any tintypes out there.

Kind regards,

RJ

[Andrew O'Neill]

Welcome to the forum, Justin.

[Peter De Smidt]

Welcome, Justin!

[Milonian]

Welcome Justin,
If you're ever up in Scotland shooting - or anyone else for that matter! - give me a shout (use the PM service here if you prefer) and maybe we could meet up.
Gordon (aka Milonian)

[cplkao]

Welcome Justin! Hello from Edinburgh :)