TL;DR
Chemical Dependency Lab is a year old. Tom is taking a break with his wife and 6 month old daughter. There will be no lab services, development and scanning during October. The lab will be fully open back to normal on 1st November.
Happy birthday CDL!
September marks a year since we decided to turn this hobby into a business. It's been an incredibly rewarding year with a lot of highlights like; understanding how to setup a limited company, selecting and procuring equipment, building relationships with suppliers, figuring out workflows for efficiency, building Loupe to reimagine scan delivery for the industry, and most recently moving into our brand new shop in the heart of Manningtree just off the high street.
All whilst maintaining another job in the software industry. And welcoming our daughter to the world in March. 2025/2026 has been a LOT!
Taking a break
Throughout all of this, I've moved roles in the software business and haven't taken any meaningful time off to spend with my family. So I'm taking paternity leave in October and we are going to be travelling in Canada checking out Nova Scotia. Shooting a lot of film of course!
Chemical Dependency Lab is (for now) just me. Friends and family have helped where they can but all orders are picked, processed, scanned and packed by myself. I'd get in trouble if I didn't mention the shipping department, my wife and daughter taking your parcels to the post office for dispatch.
This means that whilst I'm away, film processing will not be possible. However, family are stepping in to ensure your film orders are still picked, packed and dispatched. Keeping your cameras stocked with the best film I can find for you all. I look forward to developing it all when I'm back and resuming film processing on 1st November.
The rest of 2026 into 2027
In November, we will host a grand opening of the shop in Manningtree. You're all invited so keep your eyes peeled on our social media for a date.
The shop has loads of film available in the film fridge, and provides a great space for development and scanning of your orders. I'll also be offering film cameras and accessories for sale. It's also just a cool place to be (we will have AC soon) so pop in for a chat!
I think we deliver some of the best scans in the business without needing to maintain legacy hardware. But they could be improved and scanning is a workflow I'm looking to improve upon in 2027. Which is great news if you get your negatives scanned here. Sharper, cleaner colours and maybe more features in Loupe to give you more creative control before you download them and make use of your Adobe subscription!
As you awesome lot keep placing more orders, it is becoming harder to keep to our turnaround targets. For colour processing, we recently invested in a new to us Noritsu V30, a big investment for a small self funded bootstrapped business. Nevertheless, when it is up and running, it should help to improve the efficiency of our colour processing workflow by a large amount. In 2027 we may look to grow the business again by recruiting some help. Which will also allow me to spend a bit more time with my new family.
I'm posting this in September as fair early warning of the October closure. I hope you all come back in November and in 2027. I think we're building something awesome here, come along on the ride too. Just forgive me for October!
Tom
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