Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Minick and Steven Levas.
Jennifer and Steven, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We are both photographers, Steven with ten years of experience, and Jen with four, and share a true passion for film photography. We had been self developing our film for a while when our friends began to come to us with their film to develop. We loved the feeling of bringing someone’s photos to life for them!
Once the quarantine began, we were both laid off from our jobs and ended up with a lot of free time. At the suggestion of some close friends, we decided to officially start Blix Processing Co.
Our goal was to make film development easily accessible and affordable for our community, once word got out however, people from all over the country showed interest in us. We then began accepting mail-in orders, our first from Pennsylvania! We have regular customers in Texas, Hawaii, Arizona, and of course, most of our regular customers come straight from home, Oceanside.
We feel incredibly grateful for the support we have received and we feel indebted to our friends who encouraged, supported, and promoted Blix Co.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
For the most part, it actually has been smooth. We understand the delicacy needed with film as we have been handling our own for years.
With that being said, there has been some learning! There were things we never had to consider when we were only developing our own film, for example, ensuring we have enough chemicals on hand! Our first month was tough, with mail delays due to COVID, getting chemicals was a long process at times. Our first few customers definitely showed a lot of patience with us as we figured it all out and we get the most excited to see them coming back time and time again.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
At Blix Processing Co, we develop and scan film. We offer C-41 and Black and White development for 35mm and 120 film. We are hoping to expand our options sometime down the road.
Our goal in creating our company was to make film developing affordable. Shooting film brings us so much joy, and we see it creating joy in others as well, however it can be a pricey hobby to have. Between camera costs, film costs, and developing costs, it can really add up. We wanted to relieve the burden of high developing costs for our fellow photographers.
We aren’t a professional developing center, our prices reflect that, but we stand by our work, we are proud of the film we develop, and we treat each roll as if it’s our own.
We are also very proud of our customers. The cool thing about being a small business, is we get to truly connect with our customers. We get to see them grow as photographers, we get to see them do amazing things through their photos, it feels very inspiring to be apart of.
What were you like growing up?
Steven grew up skateboarding in Encinitas and found interest in the photography in various skate magazines, this is what originally drew him to photography. From there he also developed an interest for street photography, specifically in his time he spent living in New York. He has always been a kind-hearted, passionate human in all areas of his life.
Jennifer, also raised in Encinitas, has always found a love for making people laugh, and for bringing joy to others in her world. She enrolled in a darkroom class her first year in college and fell in love with film instantly.
Together, we enjoy traveling and camping in our van, hanging out with our two dogs Willie and Apollo, gardening, making art, and spending time with our friends and family. And of course, shooting a bunch of film!
We feel really lucky that we get to spend time together, working and doing what we love at the same time.
Pricing:
- Film Developing $6
- Film Scanning $5
Contact Info:
- Website: blixcoprocessing.square.site
- Email: blixprocessingco@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/blix.co
Image Credit:
All photos were taken by Steven Levas and/or Jennifer Minick.
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