What ever happened to The Fiber Base..?

Rather than enjoying the beautiful weather today I decided to spend my time in complete darkness printing up a consignment of work for my new gallery in LA
I guess I should mention now that I took to black and white printing for commercial clients shortly after leaving college. It was something I was naturally good at and thought it would be a good way to finance personal projects. Three years after working for a commercial lab I set up on my own in North London. Basically the printing for clients thing became full time and then some. I found myself working day and night just to get by and was unable to to produce any of my own work. So I packed up the lab after two years to concentrate on my own photography, I have to say I caused a little ripple among my clientele, some of them even wept...
The only work I print now is my own colour and find that the fundamentals of colour printing are not that different from B&W.
I did have a lot of fun in those early days and met some extraordinary people, but the printing for photographers did drive me a little nuts sometimes, especially when someone might say: "I know I shot it at night in a tunnel, but I think its a little too dark"......
I do sometimes miss the stinky glow of the safe light and remember those days every time I put vinegar on my chips, but I'm glad there over..
Above are some Terry O'Neil images I printed from his book Legends. He was kind enough to sign a few 'spare' prints for me which are now on my staircase wall.
As for the title of this segment, The Fiber Base was the name of my lab. People always thought I sold cereal.