I should probably process my own but until I do the end result of my photography on film rests on the skills of the folk I hand the exposed rolls to for processing. I have tried one hour from Boots (yes, you can still find some places that do it), various branches of Snappy Snaps and the postal services of Ilford Lab – as well as this place: Bayeux in London’s glittering West End.
Now, Bayeux have made mistakes. One film was scanned with negatives merging into each other and a couple now have found their way on to the CD upside down. And it is definitely not cheap. I try not to visibly wince when told the price upon collection. But scans come back in 24 hours, the quality of processing is top drawer and it is nice to be in a place that isn’t in thrall to consumer digital hegemony. Nobody is going to try and sell me a camera I don’t need or extras I don’t want – they’re just going to process and scan films, and if I wanted they would produce a print of such quality to make my jaw drop. I slightly prefer the more contrasty monochrome scans I get back from Ilford but they take 8 days and don’t do colour.
This shot of Bayeux was taken with my Samsung cameraphone that is now severely scratched and in need of some TLC. I’ll retire the bugger soon though. I’m already looking out for a phone with a decent camera and storage to replace it. It would be nice if it could make calls as well but it’s not essential given how few friends I have.
See the details of this photo here. Or you can see Bayeux’s work making this Lubitel/Reala combo shot of the fountain at Southbank Centre look not terrible here.
Jon's Place 