In our recent episode of The Camera Life Podcast, Justin, Jim, and Greg from team Lucky Straps chatted with analogue film photographer and camera lab owner John Umina. John’s business, Lumina Labs, operates from the regional Victorian town of Kyneton. Kyneton is nestled in the heart of the Macedon Ranges and, with a population of around 6,000 people, could be labelled a sleepy hollow. After a personal health journey, John chose to buy the old Bendigo photo lab and resettled in Kyneton with the new name Lumina Labs.
“Lumina Labs is a top-rated photographic film lab specialising in high-quality developing, scanning and finishing services for C-41, ECN-2, and black and white. Post your film or drop it off at one of our Victorian locations in Footscray, Bendigo, Gisborne, Castlemaine, Daylesford, Kyneton, Ballarat or Wangaratta.”
Lumina Labs doesn’t offer a shop front like many film labs. However, drop boxes are located throughout regional Victoria and Melbourne (Victoria’s capital city), allowing film photographers to simply drop off their films and receive their scans via a digital dropbox. Lumina Labs also offers photographers a unique opportunity to work side-by-side with John to develop and scan their films using the machines on hand. Lumina Laps has Noritsu V30, HS-1800, and Frontier scanning systems to deliver high-resolution scans and image files. The supported learning of developing and scanning your films is incredibly appealing and allows knowledge (that’s becoming rare) to be shared and build further commitment to the process. During our chat on The Camera Life, John discussed the developing and scanning process and the ability to alter image outcomes with simple yet creative adjustments.
While John is often busy with scheduling development and scanning runs, he also finds time to get out and shoot with his film cameras. John loves to shoot medium format with a Pentax 67. He loves exploring his surroundings and finding the quiet moments that reflect his childhood and growing up in the country. John is working on a project where he explores the locations of his youth and small country towns that the highway now bypasses. During his years in school, John studied to be a filmmaker but instead pursued photography to capture film-like scenes through street photography. While the medium format is John’s current weapon of choice, he has also shot with a pair of Leica M6 35mm rangefinder film cameras. He would run with a 28mm and 50mm set of prime lenses - one for each camera.
Our time with John proved to be incredibly informative and inspirational. Throughout the episode, we all found ourselves scrambling for our old (potentially broken) film cameras. It was also a trip down memory lane for me as I learned photography on film cameras and developed and printed my own films. What was most inspiring about the discussion with John was seeing the passion for film photography is still alive and well. John’s photography tells small but fascinating stories and portrays a slice of life from the perspective of a regional town that the highway now bypasses. John’s collection of landscapes, street scenes, and environmental portraits tell the story of moments in time for a country town and its residents. The quality of John’s images and the allure of film elevate his compositions in a way that draws the viewer in to absorb the grain, soft exposures, and classic film looks.
Justin, Jim, and I are planning a road trip out to Kyneton to visit John and see Lumina Labs do its thing. If the photography gods are kind to us, we will shoot some film and then develop and scan our images with John’s guidance at Lumina Labs. We may even film some content for The Camera Life channel while we are at it. Stay tuned to learn more about film development, scanning, and handling film.
If you’re unfamiliar with The Camera Life Podcast, be sure to take a look at our YouTube channel for the latest episodes and, of course, our back catalogue of weekly shows. Our shows are also available on popular audio podcast platforms. If you like what you see, please give us a thumbs up, Subscribe to The Camera Life, and click on the bell icon to receive notifications of upcoming shows. We host two shows a week, the first being every Thursday at 9am AEDT (Australia), where we interview guests like John. The second show, The Random Photography Show, airs every Monday at 7:30 pm AEDT. The Random Photography show is a little random, a little loose, and a lot of fun! Be sure to check them out.
Check out John & Lumina Labs:
Website: https://luminalabs.com.au/
Lumina Labs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luminalabs.au/
John's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neatism/
