Dave Smith
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 offering hand-crafted printing services to local photographers. Realizing that he needed a broader photographic experience, in March 1973, Dave took a job at Bara Photographic, a large commercial photographic lab in Hyattsville, Maryland. Over the four-year period that he worked at Bara, he gained precious “hands-on” experience working in many different areas of the commercial photo lab industry and dealing with commercial clients.
In 1977, Dave and his friend, Jim McCue, started a small custom professional photo lab called Color Unlimited. Dave later took over the business and moved locations and expanded the lab several times over the next fourteen years, until closing in 1992. Seeking a new beginning, Dave, his wife Fran, and their friend (and fellow photographer) Robin Wright formed a new business called United Photo in October 1992.
In 1993, the new team moved their growing operation into the 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. Because of evolving technology and changes to the photo lab business model, they decided to downsize and relocate the business to a new, non-retail building at its 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
