Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Lee Cobb.
Hi Laura Lee, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m an actress, artist, photographer, military wife, and mom living in the Central Texas area. (My son was born in Georgetown) We come to Austin during the weekends for a little bit of fun, photography, and just to enjoy the sights and sounds of downtown
I love travel, animals, and inspirational posts on social media. My husband and I have a family business called Forgotten Film based in the Belton/Fort Hood area.
Forgotten Film started as a camera-collecting hobby for myself and my husband, Jonathan Cobb.
I took up photography as a hobby back in 2012 when I quit smoking cigarettes — photography kept my hands and mind busy through the nicotine withdrawals… it’s something I just sort of picked up and never put down.
My husband, on the other hand, had been medically retired from the Army… He has PTSD pretty intensely and found film photography to be therapeutic.
With this in common, we grew a moderate collection of antique cameras. Sometimes we’d find exposed film that was forgotten inside — and to us, this became the most interesting and exciting part of collecting older cameras (and is also how we came up with the name Forgotten Film) You never know what you’ll find on those photos!
When covid hit in early 2020, I was out of work for a bit – (my other passion is acting but especially during the start of covid gigs were few and far between). With more time on our hands, we began to experiment with older developing processes and fell in love with the colloidion process.
It wasn’t long before we opened our tintype portrait studio in Downtown Belton. Unfortunately, it didn’t take off like we had hoped BUT we met a lot of cool people along our journey. We closed our studio November of 2021.
I still do offer photo scanning and digital repair services. The repair service has been consistently one of my more popular services. Photo repair is one of my favorite services because I personally enjoy erasing damage, creases scratches from beloved photos and healing them back to their original state.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road — My husband and I have been together since our teen years so we’ve been through a long list of good and bad… But we’ve always worked things out. He is my soulmate, my twin flame, and my best friend.
Perhaps the most difficult struggle was during and after his deployment to Iraq. He has a long list of debilitating conditions such as memory issues, ptsd, and migraines that he’ll probably never fully recover from – but we’ve found ways to cope (photography and the darkroom have been a blessing) Plus, we’re blessed to have the love of our family, friends, and community.
Business-wise, well — we certainly ran into a bump in the road there with closing our studio but I rather enjoy working from home again. It gives me more time to focus on family, friends, and other things I love.
One photography quote that comes to mind is this — “Life is too short to focus on the negatives.”
…just gotta keep moving forward.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a Photographer/Owner at Forgotten Film Photography in Belton, TX. We currently offer services such as Photo Scanning/repair & B&W film developing. We are hoping to start a home film developing instruction workshop sometime in the future. We’d like to show people how they can shoot and develop film from their home using simple ingredients like instant coffee.
I am currently contributing stock photographer at iStock, Shutterstock, Dreamstime & More and my photography has been included in the 2012 ATTS art exhibition in New York City; Art Takes Times Square, Book; Photo Credits & Articles in: The Hills Magazine, The Commons Newspaper, Monadnock Living Magazine, Pregnancy & You Magazine… & More. I’ve done some acting and modeling locally in the central Texas area and had been blessed to have worked onset of two major productions that were filmed in the Austin/Killeen Area.
As I mentioned earlier in the interview — my husband and I do a bit of collecting… “a bit” may have been an understatement — it’s an addiction that we never want to stop, lol. Anyway, we have a lot of antiques, collectibles, and vintage cameras that are also available for sale in our antique booth at the Exchange on Central Antique Store in downtown Belton TX (We are vendor #LLC)
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Follow your passion and the rest will fall into place. Every problem has a solution and if one door closes… wait for it and rest in knowing another will open.
Pricing:
- (Make your prints digital) $30 first scan and $5 each additional scan (This price includes access to a private online gallery where you will be able to download all your photos to your computer or devices.
- Digital Restoration Services: Level 1: Basic spot removal & repairing of small scratches, cracks, & minor writing (not touching the face or body) fix small stains and restore fading / basic color restoration on uncomplicated portraits $30. Level 2: All the above plus moderate repairs for photos that have more significant damage – minor scratches, folds, tears, repair of missing corners holes or damage on background $40 Level 3: All the above and fixing or removing multiple spots, water damage, burns, scratches, and fractures especially to face, body, and / or background. Restoring photos that are badly torn, have damaged or missing pieces of the face, body, or background $75& up
Contact Info:
- Website: www.forgottenfilm.us
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraleecobb/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forgottenfilmusa
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkEurtq9du8pvKoMrDgQ9fA
- Other: www.lauracobb.com
Image Credits
Laura Lee Cobb, Jonathan Cobb, Kazki Watanabe, Photo repair shared with permission from R. Dominguez
