UK online film retailer Analogue Wonderland has announced the launch of a new film processing minilab.
The WonderLAB will be based in the company’s new premises near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, which they moved into earlier this month.
Analogue Wonderland’s co-founder, Paul McKay, said: “This means that we will be able to develop, scan, and print all of your films – whether you live locally and drop them off to us – or if you send them in from around the country.
“However… neither Mary or myself have any minilab experience, so we have had to bring in an Analogue Superhero to help us create the WonderLAB. That superhero is Marina Llopis aka IFWEFILM! Marina is a hugely talented film photographer with over seven years’ experience in labs and commercial studios from Japan, Spain, and the UK – and the absolute perfect person to help build the processes, train the team, and plan the equipment flow to create an exceptional service for the entire UK film community.”
Analogue Wonderland, which was founded in 2018, has emerged as a leading player in the UK’s film retail market. It has had a long-standing relationship with YouTuber Llopis, who produces how-to guides and primers for those new to film, both in English and Spanish.
Llopis’s intent is to turn the lab into one of the most sustainable in the world
She told Kosmo Foto: “I have been working in different labs around the world for more than seven years and during this time there have been many things that I personally want to change related to sustainability, efficiency and community.
“So when Paul from Analogue Wonderland approached me with the idea of helping him set up the AW LAB and with the opportunity to create these disruptive changes that I had been scheming in my head for some time, it was like an instant symbiosis.
“From my point of view, the four most important things that a modern laboratory must have are:
- Quality and professionalism (each photograph has to be taken care of with great delicacy and has to meet the photographer’s expectations).
- Organisation (there must be more efficient systems to avoid any logistical errors.)
- Community (a space must be created in which the photographer feels comfortable, understood, inspired and with a place to go to in case he/she has any questions).
- A sustainable vision from the beginning to the end of the process (there is a growing awareness of the environmental impact of the practice of analogue photography and my mission here is to reduce this impact as much as possible).”
The new lab, Analogue Wonderland says, should start operations in September.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
