Darkroom prints from commercial labs/printing services?

[Jimbob]

Are there any traditional b&w darkroom printing services that remain in this world? I’m talking about prints from negatives!

thanks

jimbob

 

[grain elevator]

Sure there are! If you're talking about "fine" prints (not send your film in, get 36 little prints back): Here in Germany there's Studio 13 and several others whose names I've forgotten. Our own Bob Carnie is in eastern Canada I believe. I'm sure there are many others.

 

[GregY]

When I was in Europe last summer,(to avoid CT scanner problems) I had my film processed at Atelier Publimod.... the pro lab in Paris. Closer to home here in Alberta, Paul Stack Photography in Calgary does custom printing.

 

[koraks]

Are there any traditional b&w darkroom printing services that remain in this world? I’m talking about prints from negatives!

Absolutely. They're not widely advertised or very easy to find, but once you start networking in the fine arts printing world, you stumble across them here and there. For instance, in Amsterdam, there's https://aap-lab.com/ They cater to fine arts photographers, museums etc.. There's also one or two labs who appear to serve the amateur market with both color and B&W enlargements directly from negatives, for instance: https://analoogstudioarnhem.com/ And of course there are alt. process people who will also work from camera negatives if the need arises, although they'll mostly work from inkjet negatives these days; e.g. https://polychrome.nl/

I think pretty much every country has its own little ecosystem of printers, often highly specialized in certain aspects or techniques. For instance, the polychrome website I linked to (Kees Brandenburg) specializes in pigment processes, while AAP specializes in color RA4 with post-flash exposure, but also does extensive B&W silver gelatin work.

 

[Paul Howell]

If your in the U.S Flower Mound TX, there are a number, Blue Moon comes to mind, just Google Photo Lab and you a number of hits, likely some in Tx.

 

[K-G]

For the US market, I just bumped into this company.

Karl-Gustaf

Panopticon Imaging, Inc

We are a one stop photographic shop providing both digital and darkroom services as well as custom framing, digital restorations, matting and mounting, and deliveries. You can come to us for all of your photographic and imaging needs. We serve a diverse array of local, national, and international ph

www.panopticonimaging.com

 

[MattKing]

Thread title tweaked.

 

[Mike Crawford]

Interesting topic. Definitely a few of us over in London and the UK, but nowhere near as many as say 20 years ago. I’ve been a specialist black and white printer for close to 40 years and work for some really good interesting and well known photographers. Mostly UK, but some projects for US photographers. All the commercial work went years ago. I used to do a lot for fashion photographers, so that would mean lots of film to process and contact, then 12x16s for the magazine repro.

It’s now mostly exhibition prints, print sales and lots of work for Photobook publishers, working on their special editions, which come with a signed editioned silver gelatin print. Also, some very special editions which will have a folio of prints.

Still in touch with other printers like Pete Guest, Robin Bell, Sebastian Edge, Sharon Easterling and Adrian Ensor. Sadly was at the funeral of Mike Spry last week who was one of the longest serving and most well known of printers, who had been around since the 60s. There’s also some great colour professional darkrooms in London like Artful Dodgers, Labyrinth and Rapid Eye who are still printing colour by hand as well as digital c types. I think most of their work is for fashion and fine art photographers.

Interested to see APP lab in Amsterdam. Certainly know of professional labs in Paris, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Berlin and such. Would be good to know of more. I know there are still some in New York.

I was thinking quite a bit recently about Ilford and Harman with the upcoming launch of their (not so) mystery new product. After the management buyout and formation of Harman, us community of printers were quite involved with Ilford back then . A group of us were doing workshops at Universities and Colleges, also testing new products, sometimes ending up with a joint exhibition or event for launches. I remember having a meeting with two of the (original) Harman directors at a cafe in St Pancras station with toning tests on their soon to be launched Multigrade Classic. (MGFBV) Can’t remember if they were heading off to the Continent by Eurostar or if it was me! Seemed quite normal then.

This was before the rise of Instagram and Youtube as main places for promotion, so appreciate the changes to methods of marketing and publicity these days, so not so much input from us lot. I doubt with my meagre 600+ followers an Instagram I would be anywhere near to being an Influencer, (thankfully), so could not do much to publicise anything! Maybe time to grow my beard back and start wearing a baseball cap backwards!!

 

[Carnie Bob]

Like Mike I have been professionally printing for quite awhile and during that time seen a lot of change, Today at 70 I am printing more fine art prints as Mike describes, I work mainly in silver and multiple colour gum pigment over palladium. We are very busy and I kind of attribute it to the buggy whip theory where I am one of the few still making buggy whips in my neck of the woods. I am trying not to commercialize my printing practice, but with a bricks and motar shop and one lead assistant who I am training we take on many projects . Personally I prefer the gallery work, but I am still really happy crafting a portrait for a local walkin client.
It seems to me that there is a movement going on in my city at least for hand made prints that have the pedigree to last a minimum of 200 years, I do a colour process that has the chance of being stable for much more than that but I. am happy that at least some of the work we do today will be viewed in a few centurys and hopefully cherished.
I get asked a lot to make C Print enlarger prints and basically refuse as whats the point, the dyes coupler process has proven itself to be very unstable and I have no motivation to make prints that will end up in landfill in thirty or forty years.
Currently I am seeing a lot of mini lab type operations working with film and scanning to print and this trend seems to be pushing those in higher places (Harman) to see maybe the light that film and silver prints are not dead.

 

[RJCPHOTO]

Are there any traditional b&w darkroom printing services that remain in this world? I’m talking about prints from negatives!

thanks

jimbob

Not sure where you're located; check out; Dalelabs.com
They are located in Hollywood, FL.