About Us

Hi friends! Its me, Emily, and this is my story…

My first camera was gifted to me in 2010 by my grandfather. It was a Minolta XG1 that he traveled Europe with after the Korean war. That camera and I? We went EVERYWHERE together. Well, everywhere as in my backyard and around the block, since I couldn’t drive at the time. I signed up for a photography course my freshman year of high school where I learned how to to shoot, process, and print 35mm black & white film (Tmax 100, to be exact.. god I have such a sweet spot for that film). I will never forget printing for the first time in the darkroom. Agitating the chemistry, and watching the photograph come alive. It was a photo of a busted lock on the old shed in my backyard. If I close my eyes, it’s like I can teleport back to that moment. The smell of the chemistry, the goosebumps on my arms…. after that moment I never looked back. I became a sponge, I was (am) obsessed.

I went on to study photography in college, and graduated in 2018. In college I was able to study medium and large format as well as many alternative processes. From tin types to cyanotypes, van dyke prints to 4x5, school was like candy. Except for biology class… wow that sucked.

 but then? I graduated. ugh. No more darkroom. After yeeting myself across the world in true aries style chasing the fashion circuit, I worked myself into the ground. Saving whatever money I could photographing whatever I could, I opened my studio and built my brand as a fashion and portrait photographer. And honestly? IT HAS BEEN AMAZING. But…

Something was always missing.

So when the pandemic hit, I closed up my studio until who the heck knows when, packed up my pelican case with my gear, and then it hit me. I haven’t put a roll through my Hasselblad in god knows how long. I kept shooting film after college, but it didn’t have the same joy to me when half the process was in the hands of somebody else. I didn’t know any reliable labs. I have had just about every bad lab experience a photographer could have. Over developed, under developed, cut my negatives right in the frames, I even had a lab lose 5 rolls of film I shot in Spain. PAIN. As I got back into my film flow, and questioned my ability to safely continue my professional photography work due to the state of the world, I realized it was time for a pivot.

 Why am I sending these less than trustworthy labs my film if I spent 8 years of my life learning how to do this?

So with the little money I had managed to save after being locked in my house for a many months, (I’m hella high risk, so, I’ve been playing it super safe) I went on ebay, and snagged me a Jobo. “Well, if all else fails, I’ll just open a film lab.” I said to my best friend after cringing at my bank account balance.

NOW ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE YOU TO MY RIGHT HAND HERE AT THE LAB - EVE!!!