A Sad Farewell to NewLab

I must have missed the earlier announcements while digging out of my huge backlog of work and new business. But today, I saw an email from the Northern California chapter of ASMP about a liquidation sale happening at the NewLab. The NewLab has posted a letter on their web site from owner Sam Hoffmann about the doors finally being closed at what had been a professional photographers’ San Francisco landmark.

Back in the day… when I started working for Galen Rowell, one of our jobs was to run film back and forth to the NewLab for E6 processing. This place had counters filled with staff, pro photographers hustling jobs in and out, and the place jived with a certain buzz. They were known for being a bit on the expensive side, especially compared to Fuji mail-in processing, but they had the best reputation among pros in the entire Bay Area.

Of course when I started processing my own film, NewLab was the only place I went. In the days before digital, there was something great about dropping off ten rolls of film, and two hours later you could be looking at slides on one of their many lightboxes. Digital provides immediate feedback, but this week working with some of my slides, I was again reminded of the feeling and pleasure that tangible holding and sorting of slides had. Digital lacks any of that tangible expression of your art form. And holding a DVD up to a Lightbox my cause pretty reflections, but it’s just not the same as holding slides.

I’ll admit that it’s been a couple years since I’ve been to the NewLab; the last time it was a near ghost-town version of its former self. The wave of high-end digital cameras hit them hard. I know that they tried to adapt by offering a range of new and different services. In the end, the combination of the need for the services that they offered and the solid hit on the general economy took the final toll.

Bye, NewLab. Thanks for the memories.