Jack's Lab is an independent boutique film processing lab in Bristol, founded by photographer Jack and business partner Max (Jack's cousin), and run by Jack, lab-tech Nathan and a small team of friends and family, all of whom have a passion for all things film and photography.

We wanted to create an inclusive space for all levels of film photographers - A place you can come and hang out, chat about all sorts of nerdy film stuff, get your film developed, learn shit and ask questions. All without feeling intimidated or judged as soon as you walk through the door (we know those places exist!).

We're also keen to embed ourselves in the local and wider film photography community, with plans to host various events such as exhibitions, workshops, and meet-ups etc. Something we've already started doing with Photo Club Bristol.

In the mean-time, we've got this great space, some great coffee always on the go, 3 Nintendos and a Street Fighter competition, ready and raring for you to visit, drop your film off and stop for a chat. We're super excited to meet any and all new faces.

Well it all started under lockdown - All the labs had closed, I was doing my own B&W developing anyway, and so I figured I might as well do my colour stuff as well now too - I then started helping some friends out, processing their film for them, which pretty quickly transformed into starting up Jack's Lab (given that my regular photography work had taken a bit of a hit due to the pandemic) as a bit of a side hustle.

Fast forward six months, I found myself a little overwhelmed with the positive response to Jack's Lab but without really knowing what to do with it or how to take it to the next level - I got chatting to my cousin Max and with a very generous offer of some help, along with some heavy encouragement from my wife Ester and our two girls, I decided to step up my game and go full time with the lab.

So in September 2021, Jack's Lab Ltd. was incorporated - we invested heavily in new bigger, better and faster equipment, as well as an actual premises. We continue to grow and expand, along with all of you.

What hasn't changed, however, is our friendly approach and the way in which we handle your film - quite simply we treat it the same way we treat our own.

We can also offer a more tailored approach to processing your film, a process that suits your requirements, without having to send anything away to other third-party labs that you don't know or trust, we keep everything in-house, making sure it's looked after every single step of the way. 

Film is expensive and the photos you've taken are even more precious, so we understand the importance of ensuring that what you get is what you want.

Here at Jack's Lab, the environment is important to us. We're acutely aware of the global climate crisis, and so we wanted to ensure that with the work we're doing here at Jack's Lab, we're being as conscious as we possibly can around the impact we're having on the environment.

Working with film is not a green-friendly process, it just isn't, but you can read more here about the steps we've put into place already to help lower our impact, and we continue to learn and improve every day.