In the corner of Justin Cary’s darkroom, water bubbles through a blocky, black-and-red film processing tank. It’s here that filmstock is chemically treated in a warm water bath.
“The film goes on here before it’s processed,” Cary says, pointing to a round tube protruding from the tank. “And you have to do this in the dark.”
The complex process is Cary’s specialty. His film lab, Midwest Film Company, is tucked away in the Delano neighborhood. A paper sign with the company’s logo is taped to the front door of the lab’s modest brick facade, belying the fact that this business is developing film from L.A. pop stars.
“We just got a project, and I’m processing it, and we’re scanning it, and you realize it’s Megan Thee Stallion,” Cary said, referring to the chart-topping rapper and singer. “And it’s like, ‘Oh, OK.’”
After years of concern that digital cameras would fully eclipse film ones, the trend is starting to turn. Film is now the aesthetic everyone’s looking for, especially in places like Hollywood; recent blockbuster movies like “La La Land,” “Oppenheimer” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” were all shot on film stock.
Midwest Film Company in Wichita is taking part in that resurgence by developing and scanning film for photographers and cinematographers. Though some of Cary’s clients are local, many send their film from places like Los Angeles so he can develop it.
Cary – a graduate of Maize High School – started Midwest Film Company in 2019. The business is not his first venture into film.
After graduating from film school in 2004, Cary said he traveled across the country working on commercials, music videos and short films. He typically worked as a cinematographer – the person responsible for the visual style of videos.
Celia Hack
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KMUW
“When we were out on our little adventures, shooting commercial work and movies and stuff like that, I was shooting stills with film,” Cary said. “Then I would come back and process that. And I just got interest from some of my friends that are like ‘Hey, can you process mine?’”
For a long time, Cary processed the film out of his kitchen in Wichita. But by the time the pandemic hit in 2020, the operation had become more than a side quest of his.
“My wife was like, ‘You need to move it out of the kitchen because it’s getting to be too much,’” Cary said.
He moved out and started hunting for affordable film processing equipment – on eBay, from local camera stores, from manufacturing plants. He struck some surprising gold: He bought the manual black-and-red film processor for $50 from Moler’s, a camera shop in Wichita that closed its physical location earlier this year. Cary said the machinery normally goes for $1,200 to $1,300 on eBay.
One of the many instruments Cary owns allows him to split long rolls of motion picture film into smaller rolls that can be used to shoot photos. This allows photographers to shoot on the same filmstock used by celebrity filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino.
The unique, specialized film is what drew Iain Trimble to Midwest Film Company. Trimble is an L.A.-based cinematographer who also shoots photos on film, largely as a hobby.
“I was just … searching for a way to shoot stills at the quality and the level that I wanted to,” Trimble said. “And when Justin’s company started … he was able to provide all of that.”
Many of the clients Cary works with are from out-of-state. In addition to developing photos of Megan Thee Stallion, Cary said he developed the photo on the album cover of up-and-coming artist Kenzie Ziegler. But Cary is considering targeting the Wichita area more, especially as long-standing local film labs shut down.
Douglas Photographic Imaging near Douglas and Grove closed its film lab earlier this year, after being in operation since 1977. The company still offers other services like printing photos, restoration of old images and editing digital pictures.
Ric Wolford, who owns the company with his wife, says there weren’t enough customers who needed film developed to merit running the equipment.
“We waited it out through Christmas to see if there’s going to be enough coming in,” Wolford said. “Nothing. Used to be Christmas holidays was common.”
Cary has spoken with Wolford about buying the film processors Douglas Photographic Imaging no longer uses. Though most of Cary’s current clients mail in their film, he dreams of opening a customer-facing storefront.
“For Wichita, the goal is to have a community of people that can walk in and hang out, maybe even black and white dark rooms where they can do their own work,” Cary said. “That’s always been a dream of mine, is to have a place where people can come and make their own stuff.”
Midwest Film Company also scans archival local footage, such as the video below from Kirby’s Beer Store in 1978.
This post was originally published on here
