About the lab
Silver & Grain is a fictional analog film lab and print shop, invented as a design study for this portfolio. Everything below is a story, but the darkroom logic in it is real.
The lab occupies the ground floor of a former marine-supply building at the working end of the harbor. Three enlargers, three developing benches, and a drying cabinet that predates all of us. The floor slopes. Nobody minds.
The idea behind the place: a lab should be a workshop first. Prices are posted, turnaround is honest, and when something goes wrong with a roll, the person who ran it tells you what happened rather than a form letter.
History
Twelve years on the bench
2014
The lab opens in a rented marine-supply building with one enlarger and a borrowed dryer.
2016
The film wall begins: house stocks mixed to the lab's own recipes.
2019
Flood year. The benches are rebuilt above the old waterline.
2022
The gallery hallway opens to one visiting photographer a month.
2026
Twelve years in, three benches running, and the workshops waitlist is a page long.
The room
Bench by bench
Development
Tanks, timers, and a thermometer that has never been wrong. C-41 Tuesdays and Fridays, black and white daily.
Scanning
The flatbed wall. Two scanners, one calibrated display, and a very good magnifier for dust checks.
Printing
Safelight only. The enlarger is older than the business and prints better than either of us on a bad day.