Transparency Is Key
This brings me to the next point of this career: customer relations. It’s important to communicate between the lab and client, whether it be how you want something scanned if you didn’t like your initial scans, or any processing notes or questions. Processing as many rolls as I have, you take notice of how different film stocks will turn out when developed a certain way. You find those photographers, see the end results of their work and begin to have a better understanding of the reaction that different ways of processing can affect film so that any time a client has a question, you now know how it will react.
It’s always a good feeling when someone has a photo shoot coming up, and they have a question about what stock, how to meter, and how to process it. They trust that you have the knowledge and experience to give them an answer that’ll produce the best results for their needs. As a lab, we haven’t seen much of anything before. Nothing too weird or absurd. We’ve pretty much become desensitized to a lot of the work that comes through, though that doesn’t mean it goes unnoticed. Trust me, we see what you did there.
Stress management, self-accountability, confidence, critical thinking, and fast and accurate problem-solving are key to success in this niche career. Knowing that you were a part of the process of creating this tangible thing that depicts a precise moment in time on a chemical level.
As a film developer, you are the beginning and end of moments in time. You have to do your job as flawlessly as possible every.single.time. There are currently nine other people in the building who rely on you for work. Then you have the client and the client of that client; it photos from a party with friends, graduation, your newborn's first photos, the last moments spent with a family member, and so on. It’s a daily mental check game in the dark. I have quite a bit of gray these days. Maybe it’s from the chemicals, maybe the stress, or maybe just wisdom creeping in (maybe).
I take great pride in the work I do and continue to do. I own my mishaps, correct the errors, and move forward; there’s no room for a fragile or easily bruised ego, in fact there’s no room to be egotistical in a dark room.