A FATHER-SON LAB KEEPS FILM IN FOCUS Words and Photos By Joy Yagid
- Joy Yagid
- May 2
- 4 min read
Bringing old-school photography back – one roll at a time
To repeat a well-worn adage, everything old is new again. Whether in fashion, music, education, or technology, products and ideas evolve continuously.
Film photography is one trend experiencing a resurgence, and a local business is here to support anyone interested in this analog pursuit. Called Gelatin Labs, it’s a film processing lab started by South Orange’s Doug Krueger and his son Ben. Housed in the Map Building at 515 Valley Street, the Kruegers located it close to home to take advantage of the local art scene, sense of community, and proximity to Columbia High School, a good source for lab assistants.
When you walk into Gelatin Labs, you are greeted by a large green neon gelatin mold sign on the wall, a nod to the use of gelatin in the production of film and the lab’s logo. The first of the business’ two rooms contains film scanners of all sizes. Strips of negatives hang on rolling racks waiting to be digitally scanned and emailed to clients. The next room houses several large machines, about the size of an office copier, that develop the film and make 4x6 prints.
Both father and son are passionate about photography and note that it runs in the family. “Both of my grandfathers and two of my great grandfathers documented the family on their film cameras,” says Ben. “I’d been scanning the family negatives for a while, just helping preserve memories in digital form.” This led him to shooting his own film in 2016.
By 2018, he and his father had gotten lab equipment to develop film and better scanners. What started as a personal project evolved into a business. In November 2018, via a post on Instagram, they opened up to the public for one month from their basement. Ben and Doug continued to work on the quality of the scans, the services they offered, and refining their niche.
In the summer of 2019, they opened full time. “At first, it was just us working with a handful of local photographers and people sending film from New York City. But as word spread over the next two years, we started processing film for photographers across the country,” Ben says. “During the pandemic, things really took off. I was working seven days a week for the first half of 2020 to keep up with the demand.”
The ease of use that digital photography offers is what opened the medium up to the masses starting in the early 2000s. It is estimated that approximately 5 billion photos are taken every day, more than 61,400 photos per second, most of them taken by cell phones. It’s why we are overwhelmed with too many photos of our pets, kids, meals, and selfies. We’ve traded quantity for quality. By contrast, our grandparents and great grandparents had one photo of their wedding.
“Young people everywhere are mourning a time before smartphones took over,” says Kate Vitali, a 23-year-old photographer who grew up in Maplewood, graduated from Columbia High School and lives in Brooklyn. “Gen Z’s search for ‘simpler times’ has resulted in the resurgence of vintage technology, film being one of them.” Vitali looks back on photos of her childhood, which were shot on film, and finds connection to a slower way of life. “Having to wait to see the result of my photograph forces me to use my imagination when composing a photograph,” she says. “It also forces me to be more selective about my photo taking. Due to the expensive nature of film photography, as well as its 36-exposures per-roll limit, I am forced to be much more i n t e n t i o n a l when taking a photograph.” She continues, “When I get a photograph back from the lab that looks exactly like how I imagined it in my head, it is the best feeling ever.” Good photography, though, is not just about film.
The equipment is also a factor. “For us, it comes down to tangibility, the craft, and the beautifully constructed cameras,” Ben says. “There is a magic element to hearing an analog shutter fire and advancing to your next shot.” Besides the nostalgia and physicality of film photography, some attribute its renaissance to the coming digital dark ages. If there are few tangible items, archivists worry that there may not be much to archive. You may have your grandparents’ wedding photo, but will your children have yours if you never print it? Film and prints are archival. “A physical negative or print has permanence. Your negative is your backup, not your hard drive,” Ben says.
As the film resurgence continues, Ben and Doug are continuing to build new connections. “We’re looking to engage more with our community of clients, enthusiasts, and photographers in the future. This could include meetups, events, podcasts, and YouTube videos.”
Also in their plans is a possible storefront. “Community is a big focus for us right now,” says Ben. The Kruegers are finding a niche with their newly available service, GelForms. It’s a special scanning profile that applies a unique color and contrast treatment to the film as it’s being digitized. Each GelForm is designed to give a distinct vibe without sacrificing detail. They see it as an exciting opportunity to collaborate with companies who want artistic filters created for their brands. Besides reaching established photographers, Ben says, “We’re really trying to help people that are first getting started. If we notice that it’s somebody’s first time shooting or their first time using us and they get something that they’re not expecting, we will check in to see what happened. We really want people to succeed,” says Ben.
Gelatin Labs accepts mailed film and has drop off boxes in NYC, Madison, Montclair and the Map Building in Maplewood. They develop film, digitally scan a variety of film sizes and offer 4x6 prints.
Joy Yagid, a local photographer and resident of Maplewood, started her photographic journey at age 8 with her father’s Kodak Brownie camera. She will now dust off her Holga to shoot some film!
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