Who We Are

Hello, my name is Michael and I’m the founder of Dodo Film Lab. I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself, the team, and explain what our goals with Dodo are.

So firstly a bit about me. I’ve been shooting on film for my entire life. I’m old enough where cheap point and shoot digital cameras weren’t around so when you went away on holiday you packed a film camera and some film, which we usually got developed at ASDA. I got my very own film camera when I was six or seven. It was a Pokemon one and the photos came back with a Pokemon border. Needless to say things weren’t too serious at this time.

Things started getting serious when I went to college. I did not do photography though, instead I did a media course. For reasons I don’t remember on a taster day before the academic year started the tutor of this course wasn’t there so me and my friend Conner had to join the photography course. This was my first experience in the darkroom.

We used a 4×5 studio camera and each took a portrait of another student, before developing and printing the photo.

I was hooked. I loved the smell of the darkroom and watching the image appear on the paper in the developer.

But I wasn’t a photography student.

It was only in my second year did a new tutor come in who, being a keen photographer herself, somehow talked her way into teaching us photography at the same time, no doubt selling it as it’ll get you more UCAS points.

I didn’t care, it meant I could go into the darkroom whenever I wanted. I brought an Olympus OM30 and a few rolls of film and no doubt took some properly crap photos, which I would then load into Patterson tanks and develop.

I then went off to Uni, studying a BA in Film Production and Cinematography in this rather miserable college in Salisbury. It offered two university courses when I was there, the one I was on and Photography. I chose this Uni because of its frequent use of cinema film throughout the course which was a rarity at university level at the time and I assume still is. The photography course was I suspect not quite what it used to be. It had labyrinths of darkrooms which didn’t really get used. But that didn’t matter by then I had a little enlarger which I would use in my halls of residence bathroom. What it did mean was I could persuade the technician on the photography course to sell me film at the same price they did photography students. Although I also remember buying Agfa colour film in a pound shop so not sure how much of a bargain I was getting. He was probably just pocketing the £2.50.

I never did go into the film industry like I’d planned when I was 19. Truth be told I graduated knowing I wouldn’t. But the one consistency in my life as things have changed is that I have a film camera near me. Sure it get more use in the summer but its always there.

Several years ago I was luck enough to meet my wife, Sassy, who helps out here between her real job. She likes photography too and is often seen witha polaroid camera on sunny walks.

Talking of sunny walks we have Doris our doxiepoo, who doesn’t help out as much as is the mascot here and her nickname Dodo is the inspiration for the name of the lab.

I guess Dodo Film Labs is a way to share my passion for film, to inspire those that haven’t shot on film before, and to help those that have always find new ways to do the hobby they love.

So that’s us, we hope to get to know you all properly too as we embark on this journey.

Thanks,

Team Dodo