Worth the wait?

For most of the years I’ve made photographs, I’ve sent my film by mail to a lab for processing. When I was a kid, this was entirely about cost management. Clark Color Labs in Chicago would develop and print a roll for about $4, compared to the drug store at $7. My allowance was a dollar a week, and sometimes I mowed a neighbor’s lawn for $4 or $5. Every dollar counted. But it took so long to get my prints, compared to dropping film off at the nearest drug store. I hated the wait! Still, that saved $3 was precious — almost enough to develop another roll. The other tradeoff was that Clark’s prints browned with time, while prints from my nearest drug store still burst with vivid color 50 years later. But I couldn’t have known my Clark prints would brown when I was 16 and made the photo above, on my mom’s 38th birthday. Some things haven’t changed — I still send color negative and slide film to the lab. I have three rolls at my favorite lab now. When I started using them, they were just…