Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Cowan.
Rob, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m an 80’s kid, so growing up with a mom who did photography, all we had was film. There were no digital cameras, or computers, or the internet. So I grew up looking at photos when they came back from wherever my mom got them developed. We had stacks and stacks of photo albums that we used to pull out and look at all the time. These memories stuck with me throughout my adulthood.
Because my mom was a photographer, it got me interested in learning it as well. I borrowed her camera a few times, but for the life of me, I can’t remember exactly what camera it was. All I remember was that it was a Nikon. So around 1998 or so, I bought my first real camera; a Canon Rebel 2000. This was a 35mm film camera with a basic lens on it. I was so proud to own this camera though. I used it all the time photographing my friends hanging out, my skateboarding friends, anyone. I took this camera everywhere. I took a darkroom photography class when I was 17 after I graduated high school and learned to make my black and white silver gelatin prints. I was completely hooked after that. The process of watching the image come to life in front of your eyes felt truly magical. But I didn’t have access to a darkroom once the class was over, and like most teenagers, I got busy doing other things and lost interest a bit. Photography was still important, but not the main focus of my life.
In the early 2000’s, digital cameras came on to the scene and the prices weren’t outrageous anymore. So I purchased my first digital point and shoot camera that has a whopping 2.1 megapixels. The idea of seeing the images instantly was such a thrill for those of us who used to have to wait to see our photos. We didn’t have to go to the store to drop off our film anymore. We didn’t have to wait an hour (sometimes longer) to see our images. We didn’t have to buy film. We didn’t have to pay for processing. This was the future.
I didn’t do much with any of my photography as a serious art until 2007 or 2008 when I purchased my first “professional” DSLR, which was a Canon 50D. Once I acquired this camera, I started to shoot friends and family to build up my portfolio. I even shared studio space in downtown Salt Lake City with two other photographers, one of which shot only with film. I was trying to break in to the wedding photography business but quickly learned that most people weren’t willing to spend good money on good photography, because everyone had an aunt, or uncle, or cousin with a DSLR and who would do it for free. After a few months, I had to give up space because it wasn’t financially sustainable anymore.
In the back of my head, though, I always wanted my photography studio and my darkroom. I remembered the magical feeling of a darkroom and always wanted access to one. I had plans to build one inside my house in Ogden, UT, but never got the chance to build it. I relocated from Utah back to California, where I’m originally from, in 2011 and lost all interest in photography. I went through a pretty dark time in my life and all hobbies got set to the side.
In 2016, I have gifted my grandfather’s Nikkormat EL. This camera sat in a case under a bed for close to 40 years. My grandmother passed away at the age of 99, and my dad and aunts all knew that I was into photography, so they gave me all of his equipment. I was truly grateful to receive something that used to belong to my grandfather, whom I never had the chance to meet since he passed away a few years before I was born. I was already living down in San Diego at this point and had no idea where to even buy film, or if the film was even still available. I found a local shop in North Park that sold everything I was looking for, so I bought a roll of film and loaded it up. I didn’t even know if this camera was functional. I shot the roll of film, dropped it off for processing, and waited for it to be finished. The anticipation was killing me! I got the processed film back a few days later and the images were 1000 times better than I could have hoped for. My digital photos looked nothing like what I had just received. I have hooked once again. From that point, my journey would take me on a wild ride.
I started shooting in and around San Diego, mainly street photography and fell in love with the whole process. I searched for other people who were also in photography and I was introduced to the Beers & Camera group via Instagram. They are a group of people who meet up every two weeks at various breweries in and around San Diego, drink beer, talk about cameras, film, gear, beer, art, life, etc. This group of people quickly turned in to close friends. Within this group, there were some serious film photographers. Some folks only shoot digital, some only film, some hybrid shooters. But with these fellow film shooters, we formed a close bond pretty quickly.
My style quickly evolved from street shooting to doing portraits of people. My partner was the first person that I shot in an intimate setting, what some would call Boudoir, and I felt like I found my calling. A close friend who I went to high school within the 90’s, who was also a photographer and model in a past life, was down in San Diego for a conference. I asked her if she was willing to model for me and she agreed. We set up a shoot in the room she was staying at and ran through four or five rolls of film. The few days it took from the time we did the shoot to when I got my film back was excruciating. I had no idea if I did everything right or everything wrong. I was a nervous wreck! After I got all of my images back, I knew I was on to something. I knew that the work that I was creating was good. Since then, I’ve put most of my focus for my work on shooting fine art nudes and some boudoir, with some street photography in there to mix things up.
I was spending a lot of money on film, processing, buying other cameras and lenses. The money was starting to add up quickly, so I turned to the idea of developing my film at home. Within my group of friends through Beers & Cameras and various videos on YouTube, I started developing at home. This started to save a ton of money and I found that I enjoyed the process. A former co-worker found out I was shooting film and she gifted me an enlarger to make prints. Once I figured out how to set this up in my house, or rather bathroom, I started making my prints. Having the extra control of your photography made me realize how important it is to understand how film works and it enabled me to be even more creative with my art.
I was developing at home, making prints, hosting Darkroom days at my apartment where my friends came over and I’d teach them how to make prints. I saw an opportunity. I knew that we needed a community space where people could come together, learn how to develop their film, learn how to make their prints, have a studio space where they could experiment and explore their photography. I wanted a space where we could all learn from each other, and share our passion. The idea of Safelight Labs was born in 2018 in my living room. Fast forward to April of 2019, and we now have a community space just as I dreamed.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road has been far from smooth. But I anticipated that it wouldn’t be an easy road. Starting any small business, especially one in a niche market, definitely had its challenges. Securing financing was one of the most difficult aspects of the process. I turned to a local lender here in San Diego called Accion to help me secure the funding I needed. They required a lot of documentation and I had to do my due diligence. At the end of the day, they believed in what I was doing and they provided me with a loan to get the business started.
Another very large hurdle was finding a commercial location in San Diego that would accommodate everything that we needed. This search took months. There were many hopeful locations, but things either didn’t pan out, or they were way out of our price range. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a small space downtown right on 7th Ave, next to the El Cortez building. I called in a few favors, started the negotiating process, and after a few weeks, was able to meet with the owner of the property. I am extremely grateful to his gentlemen because he also believes in a dream. He was an immigrant who came to the States with only a few dollars in his pocket, and his entrepreneurial spirit has now turned in to a successful business. He saw the drive in me and the same entrepreneurial spirit. We signed a lease on the property and I started construction almost immediately.
Please tell us more about your business.
Safelight Labs is a community darkroom. I try to emphasize the community aspect as much as I can. We are in the art world, and a huge part of being in the art world is the community. I’ve tried creating a space where people feel comfortable coming in, let their guard down, try new things, experiment, learn, thrive.
I started offering workshops shortly after we opened. When I first started developing my film and making my prints, I found some instructions on YouTube and through some friends, but I am a hands on type of person when it comes to learning. I have questions as I’m going, and when you’re just watching videos on the internet, it’s hard to ask questions and get a quick response. Going through the struggles that I went through, I knew that I wanted to share my knowledge and help other people learn. I have a Film Development 101 workshop where every student can borrow a camera if they don’t already own one, a roll of film, and we walk around the downtown area and shoot the roll of film on the street. Once each person has finished their roll of film (approximately 24 frames), we head back to Safelight Labs and I walk the students through the entire process of developing the film. Again, this is a hands on experience where you are doing all of the work, but I am there to guide you through the process and explain how everything works and why you are doing what you’re doing. This workshop has proven to be extremely beneficial to not only brand new film shooters, but also to those who have been shooting film for years, or stopped shooting years ago because of the digital age, who maybe haven’t done it since High School.
Very similar to the Film Development workshop, I also offer a Print Making workshop. This is also a four hour hands on workshop where you learn how to make your black and white silver gelatin prints in a traditional darkroom setting. After the four hour workshop is done, each participant walks away with two, sometimes even three, prints that they made by hand. It is truly a magical experience.
One of my other goals was to have a gallery space to be able to showcase other photographers in and around San Diego and give them a space to show their work. Every artist dreams of being able to share their work with their peers, and hopefully sell a piece or two to help support their work. This portion of Safelight Labs is where I am truly grateful and inspired by our community. It is always an exciting and stressful time for the artist to put together a body of work, hang it in space, and then watch as their family, friends, and fellow art lovers pour into the studio to look at their work. Yes, there is a lot of blood, sweat, money, and plenty of tears that go into putting a show together, but when the dust settles and the opening night party is over, the look of relief and pride on every artist face makes it all worth it. The community all comes together to view the art, some of them buy pieces, and they give their support to the artist. It is truly a beautiful thing to witness and be a part of.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were just starting out?
I am continually learning new things every day. Of course, I would love to go back and do things differently if I could, but understanding that you can’t change the past, the only thing to do is move forward and learn from your mistakes. I try to live my life without any regrets. If I have a regret, it means that I didn’t learn a lesson from that mistake. Every mistake is a learning opportunity.
Pricing:
- Darkroom rental is $15/hr
- Film Development is $15/$20/$25 for in house processing
- DIY Film Development is $5/roll, and $2/roll extra for digital scanning
- Photography Studio is available for $35/hr
Contact Info:
- Address: 1357 7th Ave, Suite B
San Diego, CA 92101 - Website: www.safelightlabs.com
- Phone: (619) 501-LENS (5367)
- Email: info@safelightlabs.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/safelightlabs
- Facebook: facebook.com/safelightlabs
- Twitter: twitter.com/safelightl
Image Credit:
Xavie Garcia (@spiritworld_x)
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