Photo-Lab was set up by photo-artist Kenny Bean in 1996 as a mobile photography facility to allow him to run creative projects with rural community organisations. In the early days the mobile darkroom was not as portable as it is now. The darkroom was made out of a metal market stall covered with heavy black theatre curtains. The design soon changed to incorporate a light plastic pole cage covered with one layer of pvc material. The Photo-Tent travelled as far as Carlisle in the South to the Isle of Skye in the West and Inverness in the North. Nowadays, the range of the mobile workshops is confined to Central Scotland except for the Techfest Science Festival in Aberdeen. The Photo-Lab is principally run by artist Kenny but he is often joined by other photographers and artists on specific projects.

The future is digital for the Photo-Lab as this medium is extremely portable and highly creative. Photo-Lab now has a powerful networked digital facility using 4 laptops, 6 digital cameras, 4 scanners, a fast printer and plenty of interesting creative software to deliver a wide range of projects.
Kenny is still committed to chemical photography through his own creative work and intends to continue the darkroom-based workshops. The tin box camera experience is the most important of these. It can not be emulated by computers and was originally created to debunk the technology of photography.