The Emulsion laboratory celebrates five years of silver creation

Emulsion celebrates its fifth anniversary! The Eye of Photography wanted to celebrate this wonderful anniversary with them.

When they decided to launch this project in 2019, Luis Escudero and David Dahan practice photography as amateurs and make their prints in a community lab, where they met. The duo decides to look at what is happening elsewhere and realizes that outside of the associative environment, there is no place dedicated to the draw, or at least nothing up to the level of what they have in mind. By opening Emulsion, they marked the birth of the first self-service film laboratory of this scale in Paris.

Thanks to word of mouth, their space on Boulevard de Charonne quickly became the all-Paris landmark for film photography. Some come to work on their professional projects, others are there as amateurs. Training is also offered, which has enabled “nearly a thousand people” to learn to shoot.

But the strength of this laboratory lies in the community spirit that has developed there. Emulsion is an important meeting place for contemporary creation and the photographic community. Photographers can meet, exchange and evolve, a welcome counterbalance to this profession which can be very lonely. It is also an international place, bringing together many European photographers, particularly since Brexit confirmed Paris in its status as the capital of photography.

And although the prices of equipment and film continue to rise, Emulsion's attendance shows that film has not had the last word. For David Dahan, “There is a young generation of photographers who continue to discover film, and who continue to bring it to life. » Some photographers select their projects, others do everything on film. For professionals, these choices are also linked to the clientele to which they are aimed. Many photographers work for example for M, the magazine of the World which only publishes film images and constitutes a real support.

To celebrate their birthday, Luis Escudero and David Dahan imagined a publication. “For five years we have seen lots of beautiful images. L’idea was to create an object to pay homage to them.» From the test tapes with which the photographers experiment and search for the perfect tone, they have created a leporello bringing together some of the photos that have seen the light of day in their work. The result is astonishing. Strips is available for sale at the laboratory.

Long live Emulsion, a place of creation and federation, to which we wish many more good years!