Darwin’s analog studio Troppo Film Lab opens

A Darwin woman is leading the analog film renaissance, opening a new studio to capture the growing market. Here she reveals what has Territorians and visitors snapping.

A JUST when you thought film was dead, it’s not.

With younger generations opting for a more tangible experience while preserving memories, the renaissance of analog film has made its way to the Top End.

In this awakening era of film, Alice Duncan decided to take an entrepreneurial leap and open the doors of Troppo Film Lab, in May this year.

Alice Duncan has opened Troppo Film Lab which offers services like developing and scanning analog film. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Developing an average of 30 to 50 rolls a week, Ms Duncan said the volume of film being dropped at the front counter was more than she could have expected for the business’s first season.

“It’s just about making it more accessible, our prices aren’t extortionate, it’s about getting people into film and keeping it alive up here,” Ms Duncan said.

She said the delayed gratification was one of the many qualities of the medium which made it so special.

“There’s something obviously different about film photography than digital photography, the materiality of it and seeing the image on a strip, it connects to people totally different than an iPhone,” Ms Duncan said.

“There’s a sense of surprise and it’s also limited, you get 36 shots maximum per roll, so if you’re taking a photo of something, you line it up and think about it.”

When asked what kind of images Ms Duncan sees most regularly she said, “we get a little bit of everything, everyone is skinny dipping up here, it’s mental”.

“If a couple comes in or something and they’re like ‘can you develop this, we just went camping’, I think to myself ‘more skinny dipping on Walker Creek’,” she said.

Since opening the lab, Ms Duncan says she’s discovered there is a thriving film shooter community in the Top End. Picture: Glenn Campbell.

Other than sometimes handling nude pictures, the enterprising businesswoman has plans in the works such as running workshops out in remote communities and holding more black and white development sessions.

The lab offers an inclusive, creative space for anyone to get involved in the once almost redundant medium.

“We did a workshop at Tactile Arts which was really popular, we had six people join for that and had a lot of people brand new to the craft,” Ms Duncan said.

“People like that journey, they like the process of learning it and that it doesn’t come instantaneously, people don’t seem to mind that – it holds this quality that you just can’t capture with digital.”

The lab offers colour negative and black and white developing services for 35mm and 120 film.

For more information about upcoming sessions or how to drop off a roll, visit troppofilmlab.com

Originally published as Darwin’s analog studio Troppo Film Lab opens