[Reader-list] Horrible experience at KINSEY PHOTOGRAPHY LAB

[Nandita Raman]

Dear All,   I want to share this horrific experience I had in the  
Kinsey Labs owned by Ashok Dilwali. I have been documenting the  
changing faces of cinema halls in and around Delhi in the Black and  
white film medium. Spending a couple of days at each cinema hall,  
requesting permission, developing a familiarity and taking  
photographs. When I gave the last batch of 5 rolls to Kinsey Brothers  
in Connaught Place, little did I know that all this work will be  
ruined. All the five rolls have irregular scratches in most of the  
negatives! The people handling the processing acknowledged the  
scratches, accepted it was not the problem of the camera but had no  
idea where they went wrong. A scary situation. To top it all when I  
spoke to Ashok Dilwali about this over the phone, here is what he  
said;   'The black and white negatives are so delicate, you know.  
They will get scratches where ever you will process them'   I was  
stunned, didn't know what to say to this man who has been  
photographing for donkey years and is amongst the top photographers  
in India when it comes to Himalayas.   ' Well, sir, I would like to  
show these negatives to you. These are not scratches because the  
medium is delicate. And I have a request please do not process any  
black and white in your lab till you fix this problem.'   ' We  
process black and white everyday, we have never got such  
complaints.'   I thought what contradictions in a matter of a minute- 
from delicate negative likely to get scratched to no complains of  
scratches.   ' Alright sir, I will wait for your call so I can come  
over with the negatives for you to see.'   So at the end of it I  
stand with 36X5 =180 unusable shots and an unwillingness to give all  
the unprocessed rolls that I have to any lab. Thought it might be  
useful for you all to know this experience.   Best regards, Nandita