EASTHAMPTON — “Abracadabra” is a phrase that escapes a single definition, often relating to magic and stereotypically thought to be said by magicians after a trick.
It also happens to be the name of one of Easthampton’s newest businesses on Union Street, Abracadabra Film Lab, a film photography developing and scanning store that seeks to bring the magic to physical forms of media.
“I was toggling around names and nothing was really sticking,” Owner Nikki Bassette said inside the film lab this week about two weeks since the grand opening on April 3.
“But then I thought, well photography is like magic,” she continued. “Then I saw abracadabra. There was something about it that had weight to it.”
Located at the strip at 45 Union St., the shop is open from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, and noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Bassette said the hours are subject to change.
At its core, Abracadabra serves as a place to develop and scan film photography rolls, ranging from disposable camera strips to professional photography film. Film can be brought in directly from someone in the Pioneer Valley or mailed from anywhere in the country. Bassette said a drop box will also be installed soon.
But that is only a small piece of the puzzle. The store also includes a commercial space selling film rolls, cameras, bags and associated photography gear, a photo gallery and an in-house library with many photography books. Bassette said the store will introduce printing services in about a month as well.
“We just want to appeal to everybody so that it’s very welcoming, from hobbies to pros, so any level (photographer) can come, talk about it and ask questions about their film,” Bassette said.
Bassette runs the business as owner, with her fiancé, Dan Jones, as film technician. The Easthampton couple, both western Massachusetts natives, have extensive backgrounds in photography and built the business around that shared passion.
“We’ve always loved film,” Jones said. “When Nikki [Bassette] got back into photography, and became a professional photographer she took me along for the ride.”
Bassette first entered the photography and film world in high school and Jones did the same while in college. Bassette previously did social work before starting a wedding photography and film business with Jones, shooting photos, and also taking videos on “Super 8” cameras, which give a vintage look.
While Bassette has had the idea for a film lab on her mind for years now, it wasn’t until the space on Union Street became available last year and other pieces started to fall into place, that the idea started to come to fruition.
Walking through the door, visitors are immediately met with a swath of photography and camera-related decor. Bassette completely redesigned the inside of the store in a “do-it-yourself” fashion, redoing floors, painting and decorating walls and building shelves.
“It is very much community-oriented,” Bassette said about the film lab. “Down the line we would love to have workshops depending on what people want. It’s a small space but as we saw at our grand opening, there were just so many people in here and it really felt good.”
Walking through the process earlier this week, Bassette put a roll of film into the shop’s developing machine, a “MiniLab Noritsu V30” made in the 1990s, developing C41 color film and black and white. The machine puts the film strip through the chemical process, acting as a “dark room.” The film is then run through a scanning machine, so the photos can be accessed on a computer.
Abracadabra offers various services for development and scanning, which Bassette said are different and important pieces of film processing. Per film roll, auto-scans start at a standard rate for $11 and $13 for high resolution; pro scans are offered at a standard rate of $18 and $20 for high resolution.
Tiff scans — much larger files that are used for more professional purposes — are offered at high resolution for $24, and full border and panorama scans are offered at $25. Customers can also one or the other, development or scanning. Development only is offered for $9, and scans are offered at various pricing.
Hoping to give customers a full range of services, Bassette said the film lab offers development and scanning individually as well. It takes up to a week to have film returned.
Bassette and Jones are still working through the process as a two-person operation, so certain things like hours of operation may change.
As they have worked and had to use various means of developing film, Bassette said they both noticed that there is still, and an even increasing, demand for film photography processing.
“People are definitely shooting more film,” Bassette said. “I think we went through a digital era, which is great, we shoot digital and there’s definitely a place for digital. But people, especially with the rise of AI [artificial intelligence], are craving real things,” that cannot be fabricated.
Bassette said there are several stores labs in the area like Amherst and Springfield but they don’t see their venture as a competitive one. They said having more film labs is good for other labs and it really builds support for one another.
“I’ve connected and talked to other labs to learn more,” Bassette said. “We’re part of an online community that is all lab owners and print shops, and the consensus is more labs is good for other labs.”
“If there’s more labs, more people are gonna feel good about shooting film. We just want everyone to shoot film,” she added.
For more information about the businesses, visit the Abracadabra Film Lab website and Bassette’s personal photography website.
