Fran Smith
Fran Smith
Fran’s love of photography began at an early age with a treasured Anscomatic and a vintage Kodak box Camera. She attended The Academy of the Holy Cross for High School and later received her BA in Art History from the University of Maryland (UMD) in 1973. Happily, a close friend of the family was a talented portrait photographer and advised Fran on both the purchase of her first 35mm SLR camera, a Minolta SRT 101, and on how to set up a home darkroom.
After working for eight years at the National Science Foundation, Fran left her position to pursue a Graduate Degree in Film Studies at UMD while also working part-time as a freelance Performing Arts Photographer. It was during this time that she met Dave who was the owner of Color Unlimited and, like Fran, was an avid Star Trek fan. (Many fun-filled Conventions followed).
Fran received her MA in 1990 and Dave and Fran were married in the spring of 1992. Shortly after, along with their good friend Robin Wright, they started and operated United Photo as a full-service lab and rental studio in its Beltsville, Maryland retail location. Since the middle of 2016, Dave and Fran have been working together from their new non-retail space in Beltsville.
Phone: 301-937-5510 EXT 2
Email: uphotofan@gmail.com