Dave Smith

Dave’s interest in photography began in his early teens. From a tiny darkroom built in a corner of his parent’s garage, he learned the basics of film processing and black & white printing. He did his first “professional” photo job at only 16 years old. While a senior at Bowie High School, he began experimenting with color printing and film processing and was soon able to offer hand crafted printing services to local photographers. In the spring of 1973, he realized he needed a broader photographic experience, and Dave took a job at Bara Photographic, a large commercial operation in Hyattsville, Maryland. Over the nearly four years he worked at Bara, he gained precious “hands-on” experience in many different types of photo lab work.

In 1977, Dave and his friend Jim McCue started a small custom professional photo lab called Color Unlimited. Dave expanded the business several times and ran the lab for fourteen years. In 1992, Dave and his wife Fran and their close friend Robin Wright formed a new business called United Photo. In 1993, they moved their growing operation into a retail shopping center in Beltsville, Maryland where together, this small group of friends operated their professional photo lab and rental studio operation until mid 2016. They decided to downsize and relocate the business to a new, non-retail building at it’s current Beltsville location. Dave marked his 50th year working in photography in 2019.

Phone: 301-937-5510 EXT 1
Skype: uphotoguy
Email: uphotoguy@gmail.com