The idea of PointClickPrint was born around a non descript table in a non descript room in a land far far away some time ago. The path, the journey, how did we get here? That is the interesting bit of this story.

As a young lad going to school to study the important lessons of third grade, a turn of events shaped my life and put me on the road to opening PointClickPrint. I was invited to join a group of students to be experimented on, (it was the 70's). Once a week I was whisked away from my communal class room filled with beaming faces of other third graders and delivered to a place of great wonderment where I was challenged beyond the subjects of study for most third graders. One of those subjects was photography (ahh, the plot thickens)(you do realize there is no plot, yes?) I was intrigued, I was curious, I was going to build a camera? Really? Can a mere mortal third grader be expected to succeed in such a challenge? Why yes, yes they can! I built my camera from a shoe box, with a foil lens and a foil shutter. I then loaded my camera with film in the dark using a bit of tape to hold it in place, excited I rushed out to take my first picture with my first camera (no I do not have the camera, or the picture or the negative, do you have anything from third grade?) I looked around to find a suitable subject, I found a tree, a tall oak tree and decided that would be my subject. As luck would have it, there was a bench in what i judged to be the perfect spot. I carefully set my camera on the bench, aimed it in the general direction of the tree, opened the shutter and counted to twenty and then closed the shutter, taping it tight as to not let any extraenous light enter my camera and spoil my first photograph.

The teacher gathered us all around and explained how to process our film into a negative and then we set about the task of making the magic happen, and happen it did! There it was, my tree! I could see it! It was in focus, it was a decent exposure and I could not wait to print it, however waiting was what I had to endure. Alas, there was not enough time to properly rinse the negative and dry it and then make the prints. I was loaded back in the car and whisked back to communal class to study with the other third graders subjects of study such as most third graders would study.

The week went slow, sometimes I was convinced the clock was mocking me, ticking slower and slower and possibly even moving backwards if at all! Finally! after a year maybe two (third grade time) okay, a week, the day of transportation to the wonderous place arrived. I was nervous, would my negative still be there? Would it be good enough to print? Would my little heart beat out of my little chest before the answer was revealed to me?

I raced to the dark room anxious to find out the next step. Once again the teacher gathered us around and told of the great magic of printing with an enlarger and processing the blank paper into the mystical solutions to reveal artistry the likes of which only Ansel Adams himself could rival. (you buying any of this?) I waited (not paitently mind you) for my turn. I exposed the paper and placed into the developer bath and gently agitated the solution and quit breathing while waiting for an image to appear. I gasped as the image emerged and I watched it get darker and saw the details emerge and it got darker and darker and turned black... I was crushed, something had gone terribley awry! This was a travesty! My world was spinning, what could save me from this total feeling of dispair. The teacher explained to me we could reprint it and adjust the exposure. Moments later I was carefully placing the exposed paper into the developer bath and once again gently agitating the mystical solution to see what would happen and there it was appearing before my very eyes and this time it did not keep getting darker, the mystical solution seemed to know when to stop developing the picture! A few minutes later, the print was into the water wash and what seemed like hours later (third grader time) I was holding my first photograph in my hands, an image (of a tree) that I had captured with a camera I had built, an image I had printed and developed and from that moment on I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Yes! I wanted to be and astronaut! What did you expect, I was in third grade!

I continued my education (blah blah blah) worked in middle school dark rooms, highschool dark rooms (blah blah blah) graduated high school and worked in 1 hr photo labs (blah blah blah) custom labs, for photographers, for major labs, for framing stores, blah blah blah, met and married Donna, moved to Auburn, CA (Lake of the PInes) opend PointClickPrint. For more information (really? you want the middle details?) call me at 530-268-6318 or drop by for a chat, I will be happy to tell you about the time I was putting the chemicals back in the bottles and got the paper fixer mixed up with the paper developer, what a hoot that was!