Take It Easy is a family-run film lab built by a group of friends who share a deep love for analogue photography. What started as a passion project has grown into a creative hub where people come not just to process their film, but to connect.

Rose
Meet the team

How the lab started

Our journey with film began in 2008 after Liam graduated from Leeds University with a Photography degree. He started working at Snappy Snaps, where he met amazing people, including Nick Baines, a fellow film enthusiast. When the store shut down, Liam bought the old film developer and asked Nick (and later cousin Joe) if they’d be up for starting something new. They were.

In 2011, the three launched a small lab called No Culture Icons Developing, running it for six months out of a friend’s space. Life took them in different directions, and the lab was paused, but the passion never left.

Fast forward to 2020, Nick mentioned the old machine in storage and it sparked the idea again. They got to work, slowly rebuilt, and that’s how Take It Easy Lab was born, founded on friendship, film, and a lot of patience.

Staff Features is a chance to shine a spotlight on some of the talented artists and creatives who work here at the lab.

Joe Singleton

I’m an artist working with photography originally from Scunthorpe. I completed an MA in 2020 in Photography at Leeds Arts University and have been working with themes around working class identities and the intersections between art, photography, technology and their related means of media generation. I’m especially interested in exploring the way modern digital image making and traditional modes of production can be combined. I’ve been making traditional black and white prints since first using the darkroom at college over 20 years ago. I enjoy how tangible and serendipitous the process is when compared to digital methods of printing; it’s a really meditative way of working that is very rewarding when things come together successfully!

Rose Dufton

I’m a visual artist from Leeds, England. I studied Printed Textiles and Surface Pattern Design at Leeds College of Art, where I became passionate about pattern, colour, texture, and shape.My current work is rooted in the landscape. I often paint outdoors, letting those quick, intuitive pieces shape what I make in the studio. I find painting outdoors also a way to ground myself and reconnect with nature. With my work I’m drawn to that space between abstraction and representation. I want my paintings to feel familiar and nostalgic, like the soft blur of a memory you can’t quite place. Recently I was lucky enough to take part in Sky Arts Landscape artist of the year @artistoftheyear and made it through to the semi-final of the competition! This for me was a bucket list moment as I have loved the show so much for the last 10 years!