I learned this week that Photo Plus, the local lab I use for some of my printing, and all of my film developing will be closing its doors permanently on September 1. The combination of the dramatic shift in photography to digital media, along with a landlord that wanted a 32% increase in the monthly rent has forced the closing. I was quite sad when Joe told me the news on Saturday. They've been in business for 20 years, and I've used them for all of my 15 years here in Rhode Island. They were so great to me, always gave my work personal attention, and produced a great product. Their work rivaled some of the new York labs.
This also means the end of my use of film. The cost of shipping film to an out of state lab is prohibitive. So today I also posted my last film camera on ebay, and got a buyer. Yup, the Canon 1v, a camera I spent $1600 on in 1999 is going to some lucky owner for $350.
I recently shot three rolls of B&W film, they were my last. Photo Plus did the processing, and it was a swan song. I'm now switching all my digital work to White House Custom Color, a great lab that I've used for album pages.
Thank You, Joe, Hazel & Matt and all the people who worked at Photo Plus over the years.
