FilmNeverDie Stockist Spotlight
We caught up with one of our first stockists FilmNeverDie and had a chat about who they are and what they do (which is a lot), from film developing and scanning, to creating their own film stocks and cameras and offering film services far and wide across Australia. Have a read to see and the good that is FilmNeverDie.
A little introduction to yourself please :)
Hi Wanderer! My name is Jacob and I am an employee of Filmneverdie. I've been apart of the FND family for the last two years. Outside of work I am a hobbyist photographer and Art Director. It’s incredible being able to combine both work and hobbies, I'm super grateful to be able to do that.
What is the origin of FilmNeverDie, when did it all begin?
So, originally Filmneverdie came from very humble beginnings when our founder, Gary Wong, decided to sell polaroid film on eBay as a side hustle. This then evolved into selling polaroid cameras, then to film cameras. Now we have a brick and mortar store in the Melbourne CBD, developing film and selling cameras. FND has always been evolving and growing, its a part of our workplace ethos. We embrace change and growth at every turn, so who knows what our story holds next?
What sort of services do you provide?
A variety. At the core of our business is two services: developing film, and providing people with analogue photographic materials. To be more specific, we stock film and cameras as well as photography accessories.
We develop multiple types of film in both 35mm and 120mm formats, from C-41 to ECN-2.
Lastly, we aim to serve the film community. We frequently host photo walks, which are these social events where a group of keen film photographers all meet up and go for a long walk together, taking photos and getting to know each other. It’s a great way for people to meet and share their love for film. Through this we aim to give people a platform to follow their photo passion, while also keeping the love of film alive (hence the name, film-never-die haha )
Have you always had a passion for film photography?
Personally, I have for a long time. I’m 22 years old now, but first ventured into photography around the age of 14. Like most people, I started with digital, but quickly made the jump into film. I think that even when I was practicing digital photography I wanted to be a film photographer. I couldn't quite explain why I liked film so much, perhaps it was the colours, the grain and the overall roughness of it. I only shot digital for about two years before I jumped into film.
My love for film lies in verité / documentary styles of photography. I love being a fly on the wall and capturing moments naturally, as they happen. I find the candid nature of documentary photography has much more emotional weight.
I saw you have recently put your own vending machine in Darwin, how did you conceptualise the idea of creating film vending machines? And what was the urge to put one all the way in the NT?
Our Darwin vending machine came to be in mid 2021. One of the FND team members, Morgan, was spending some time off in sunny Darwin, riding E scooters through the city. One day he scooted past a small clothing retailer selling beautifully designed clothing that screamed 'Australiana'. Within one conversation with the stores owner, Morgan planned shipping a 300kg customised FilmNeverDie x House of Darwin vending machine up the Stuart Highway all the way to the top end. According to House of Darwin founder, Shawny, "it allows access to world class film processing, the ability to document and create your own personal Northern Territory experience".
The idea to do vending machines was born out of our belief that film photography must be accessible if it is to survive. Little do people know that Darwin has a thriving film community, however there aren't many labs to service them; we don’t want peoples love for film be limited by where they live.
You guys have also created your own point and shoot as well! Why did you feel the urge to create your own?
I'm glad you asked! So, our little point and shoot is called our Niji Camera (niji being rainbow in Japanese). We created our Niji camera for two reasons, one; to fill a gap in the market, and two to create an accessible way into the photography world; again, accessibility is a huge part of what we do.
We wanted to create a camera for film shooters who wanted to get into film photography and own their own camera without breaking the bank. We also found that the process of choosing a beginner film camera can be very intimidating and overwhelming, there are just so many damn cameras to choose from. By creating the Niji we made an easy beginner camera for those just starting out.
Lastly, the process that is shooting film does produce much waste. Disposables are the worst at this. By nature of the camera being a disposable, it produces a lot of unnecessary plastic. By owning one camera and keeping it, we are reducing this plastic waste. Plus, for every Niji purchased we plant one tree! It's all a part of our goal to make film more environmentally friendly.
Do you have any exciting plans or goals for 2022?
I'm glad you want to hear of our plans! 2022 is going to be an exciting year for us. Where do I start... I guess first off we plan on doing a more official launch of our very own processor CP-800! We have been working on the design for our own portable compact film processor (CP : Compact Processor). This will allow more people to process their own film and will make film processing more accessible.
Secondly we are going to going bigger and better with our photo walks. We want our photo walks to be inclusive and amazing experiences for all. This means expanding our locations and growing the sizes of our groups.
If you've been paying attention to our website, you may have noticed we have also already launched two new films this year, our UMI 800 and SORA 200. This isn't the first time we have created our own line of films, but it is something we love doing. Both are available for pre order on our website right now!
Lastly, but most importantly is to improve the quality of our service. The Japanese have a word I love; that word is 'Kaizen' meaning ''constant and never ending improvement''. It makes sense that they would have a word for that considering their country is so industrious and innovative. We plan on applying this to our work, fixing things, making things better and constantly improving.
We hope to provide great quality film developing, to give people great quality film products, and to create a community passionate about film photography. Those are our goals for 2022.
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