Half Lab Box

How did this place come about and what made it different from the start?
Medio Cuadro Lab was born during the pandemic in mid-2020, emerging more from necessity than a project. The idea was conceived because, as photographers Eduardo and I didn't have a lab available since there wasn't one in Puerto Vallarta. Added to that was the pandemic, forcing us to do it ourselves. You could say it was a DIY trip :) I had some prior knowledge of developing and scanning, but over time we learned a lot more.

What part of the day, space, or creative process do those who work here enjoy the most?
We are purely nocturnal people; from the beginning we had a lot of fun doing this at night. Developing the entire batch of rolls until completion is a process that we still enjoy immensely as a team.

If someone is coming in for the first time, what should they not miss?
We've actually been working directly with two local cafes for about a year now, Revueltas and Coffee Club. All our friends and clients usually really enjoy coming here, taking a photo, and sharing experiences related to photography.

What has been an interesting challenge that has made you rethink something about the project?
Definitely in our city this is still very niche; there aren't many cultural spaces that support projects focused on photography, and the few that exist are still very closed off. Over the past five years, it has been a challenge to move the project forward, but for us it is very clear that creating community is key as a form of our manifesto.

What influence, idea, or reference continues to shape the way you work today?
Our references are definitely independent photographers, those who have limited resources, simple cameras, inherited, given as gifts, but with an immense passion to continue creating. They are our role models, and ultimately, both they as clients and we as photographers ourselves, feed this laboratory. That erratic sense of creating a lot in a day, and then suddenly taking refuge to continue brainstorming is what moves us and motivates us to keep this going.

What place, project, or person has inspired you recently and why?
Having a space like Carmencita Lab or Miyagi in Spain, or Brooklyn Film Camera, and incredible artists and photographers like yumaburgess, Jack Bridgland, Daniel Arnold, Trevor Wisecup, Daido Moriyama, and Mexicans like Daniel Patlan or Napoleón Habeica remind us how important it is to observe and develop a concrete project with its own identity. Jazz, hip hop, and punk music are part of the driving force and the soundtrack for continuing to create.

If your space could invite someone to collaborate for a day, who would it be and what would you do together?
Petra Collins, Graciela Iturbide, Walter Astrada, Alex Webb. May they definitely infuse the emerging community of our city with their wisdom and help us find the unique in the everyday that we have always taken for granted, like essentially having the Pacific Ocean in our eyes, and looking in other directions where we hadn't looked before, as well as motivating those who have a curiosity and passion for photography, especially for chemistry.

Is there an object, corner or detail of the place that has a story that few people know?
It all started in the kitchen of partner (Eduardo) Mendoza listening to music, drinking beers and developing.

If this project were a city, a book, or a record, which would it be and why?
Album: La Obsesión Vol. 1 by La Obsesión Factory, Modal Soul by Nujabes. Books: On the Road by Jack Kerouac, The Supplicant by Paolo Gasparini, because we have a wide range of tastes. One city would be our own, because of the iconic status it has for national and international tourism and because of the ups and downs that come with living in a tourist city, and some prefecture in Japan and/or a random Asian city because of the anonymity we can sometimes feel or because people only see our home as a place for recreation.

Answers by Francisco Casas AKA Panchowsky, developer and co-founder of Half Lab Box.