The Brief
TAMPA, Fla. – In a world where most pictures live on phones, Coastal Film Lab is helping keep traditional photography alive.
The Tampa business processes color and black-and-white film, scans negatives and restores old family slides so customers can easily share their memories digitally.
Tampa film lab demand
What they’re saying
Employee Victor Rivera says the demand proves film photography is far from disappearing.
“People that think that film is dead, I’d have to show them what we’re doing here. The amount of people that come in day to day and have us process their film is a large amount of people.”
The lab handles hundreds of rolls each day, with employees developing film, correcting colors and repairing damaged images.
Rivera says many of the lab’s newer customers are members of Gen Z, who are drawn to the hands-on experience of shooting with film cameras.
For many of the employees, photography started as a hobby before becoming a profession.
Visit the Lab
What you can do
Coastal Film Lab is located at 1704 N. Nebraska Ave. in Tampa. The shop is open Monday through Saturday.
The Source
Information for this story was gathered from an interview with Coastal Film Lab employee Victor Rivera.