Take It Easy Lab is a mail-order film service founded by Liam, Joe (cousins!), and Nick, run by friends passionate about film photography.

We know film developing can feel daunting, but we’re here to make it easy and inclusive—whether you're just starting or a pro. More than just a lab, we’re building a community where photographers of all levels can connect, learn, and share through exhibitions, events, and resources.

As creatives lucky enough to pursue photography daily, we want to help others do the same. For us, developing film isn’t just a service—it’s a celebration of film and the people who shoot it.

In 2008, I (Liam) graduated from Leeds University with a Photography degree and landed a job at Snappy Snaps on the Headrow the very next day. For three years, I developed and scanned film, loving the job—until the Leeds franchise closed, and I was out of work. It was tough, as it was the first role that truly connected with my passion.

During my time there, I built great friendships and collaborated on exciting photo projects with film photographers I met as customers. One of them was Nick Baines (aka Peanut from Kaiser Chiefs), who had been shooting film since 2007 and regularly brought his rolls to us for processing.

When Snappy Snaps was closing, I randomly asked if he’d be up for starting something new. I needed a job, and we both needed a place to develop film for free—he was in!In the final week before closing, I asked the owner if he’d sell me the Noritsu V30 film developer, and to my surprise, he agreed. With that, we were off! The next step was bringing in my cousin Joe, who shared our love for photography and film. He was fully on board, and just like that, we were ready—minus a building and all the other essentials for running a lab.By 2011/12, we set up shop in a space generously offered rent-free by a friend’s film company. At the time, I also ran an art and photography blog called No Culture Icons, so we named our lab No Culture Icons Developing to tie the two together.

We had an incredible six months, but life took us in different directions, and we had to shut down, putting the film developer into storage. While it was tough to end something we were so passionate about, it was ultimately the step that led to Take It Easy—and for that, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Fast forward nine more years (that poor film developer) and here we are in 2020. Back in January, Nick was talking about clearing out his storage unit and mentioned the film developer, which got us thinking again… We had a chat, and decided, why don’t we make a proper go of that film lab we started all them years ago?! You have to remember, this was JUST before Coronavirus came along and changed everything for everyone. I think if we had been speaking about this a few months on, it just wouldn’t have happened.

Due to everything that was happening in the world, it took us months to make any proper progress on the lab, but slowly we got it all together and oh man, it felt good to be doing this again!

Joe, Nick and I officially opened Take It Easy Lab for business in September 2020 and we've honestly been blown away by all of the support and encouragement we’ve received. It's this support that has meant that currently (2023), Joe and I both work full-time at the lab and seven other members of staff have joined our ever-growing team!

At the beginning of 2023 we had a full lab refit from Leeds based company Esgate and Keir, which meant that we had a purpose built lab, resulting in much faster turnarounds!