Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the iPrintfromHome.com team!

VIDEO: Welcome to iPrintfromHome.com

Hi. I'm Sara Campos and I'd like to welcome you to iPrintfromHome.com. My father started this company in 1979. We began as a darkroom rental lab servicing artists and photographers who wanted to have more control over their printing.

Today, operating as iPrintfromHome.com, we're still basically doing the same thing that we were doing back when the Campos Photography Center first opened its doors. But now, instead of coming to our location to rent our darkrooms and print your work, you can do it all from the comfort of your home with a little help from a computer and the internet. That's why we call it "I print from home".

As my Dad says, "Here we go again, a little older, a little wiser, helping you image your imagination, anytime, anywhere."

We know how important each individual customer is to our business and we do our best to not only meet your expectations, but to exceed them. At iPrintfromHome.com, we provide you with a high quality product that you value, with consistency that you trust and with customer service you can rely on to help make things right if you run into a problem.

At iPrintfromHome.com, we've been working with artists and photographers for over 30 years. We understand what you're looking for - take a look around our site, check out what we have to offer and then give us a try - we'd love to help you image your imagination.

To get started, go to iPrintfromHome.com and click on "How do I Begin?"

Still Standing After All These Years – 25% Off Mounted Photographic Prints

31 years ago, almost to the day, my dad (George Campos) opened Campos Photography Center - a darkroom rental lab for artists and photographers. His customers were people who wanted to have more control over their printing but didn't want to go to a custom lab, didn't have access to their own darkroom, or maybe didn't have the money to invest in creating their own facilities at home.



Today, operating as iPrintfromHome.com, we're still basically doing the same thing that we were doing back when the Campos Photography Center first opened its doors. But now, instead of coming to our location to rent our darkrooms and print your work, you can do it all from the comfort of your home with a little help from a computer and the internet. That's why we call it "I print from home".

As my Dad says, "Here we go again, a little older, a little wiser, helping you image your imagination, anytime, anywhere."


In celebration of both our anniversary and our newly offered mounting services, we're running a 25% off sale on mounted Photographic Prints through April 2010.

Not only are we still standing strong after all these years, but now that we're offering mounting services, your prints can too. Mounting your prints makes your images self-sufficient. It grants them the independence to stand on their own, to stand out, to look their best.

For more information about our mounting services, please click here

Instructions:
1. Place an order for mounted Photographic Prints at iPrintfromHome.com by midnight on Friday, April 30, 2010.
2. IMMEDIATELY after placing your order, send us an e-mail (here) with "Still Standing Sale – 25% Off Mounted Photographic Prints" in the body of the e-mail.
3. Once we receive your e-mail, we will adjust your order total to account for your 25% discount on mounted Photographic Prints.
*Offer does not include shipping.
**Discounted orders are not guaranteed to be completed within our standard turnaround times, but every effort will be made to do so.

Here's to 4 more years!

Hi. My name is Sara Campos. I started working at iPrintfromHome.com four years ago, on the first Monday in March 2006. As you'll find out when you read my story below, I love my job! Specifically, because I get to work with people like you. Thank you for doing what you do and giving us the opportunity to help you image your imagination. We know you've got plenty of choices out there, and we're so thankful that you choose to work with us.

I've also enjoyed getting to know many of you on Twitter, Facebook and through our blog this last year. For those of you who I haven't met yet, stop on by and say hi or sign up as our fan on Facebook.

Please read on to learn more about how I got started at iPrintfromHome.com and about our company values.

Our Values
As I've told you in previous posts, my father started this company 30 years ago. Although I've been hanging around this place my whole life, I never really knew the business intimately until a few years ago when I started working here full time. Before that, I ran through the dark rooms with my sister as a kid, raided the snack room, and visited my dad for lunch every now and then. That was really the extent of my involvement. I never imagined that I would be sitting here today as an employee of iPrintfromHome.com. In fact, I really resisted getting into any kind of business at all. And I mean seriously resisted it.

I majored in creative writing in college and wrote all kinds of essays about how materialistic I thought our society had become. I imagined how great it would have been if I was born back when most people lived on farms and actually saw the results of their labor in the fields, rather than in numbers on their bank statements.


I went to college just north of the Adirondack State Park, went camping, climbed mountains and tried to figure out what I could do with my life that would be both fulfilling and pay my bills. My first job out of college was as an AmeriCorps volunteer doing trail maintenance in Maryland State Parks. I thought that was a pretty good start.


After that was over, I came home for what I thought was just going to be six months or so. I asked my dad if I could have a job while I figured out my next step. He put me to work mounting slides and packing prints, and about six months later I found myself doing customer service.

What was really surprising to me then - although looking back on it now I suppose I should have known that I would have all along - was that I really enjoyed my job.

I really liked working at a desk for a business.

I spent a lot of time thinking about that transformation, trying to understand why exactly I was (and am) so content. I came to realize that it has to do with the values that serve as the foundation for this business - the values that my father instilled in our company policies.

Shortly after this realization, I asked my dad and my brother to have a little meeting with me. I sat them down and thanked them for the opportunity to work with such good people. I thanked them for the way that they treated me and my fellow employees. And I thanked them for the way that they had structured this business.

I always imagined business to be all about money. And while it is to a certain extent, that's not what it feels like here.

We aren't a retail store that stocks items that people purchase. And we don't really fit into what would be defined as the service industry like a custom print lab or a restaurant. We're more like partners with our customers. We help them create prints that they need to run their own businesses or etsy shops or to hang in galleries.
That in itself, that partnership, really shapes the way we do business here at iPrintfromHome.com. We see ourselves as having a working relationship with our customers. So instead of treating each order as an isolated commitment to produce a certain number of prints and collect a certain amount of money, we treat each order as an opportunity to build on that working relationship.

We do that in a few ways. First, we do our best to produce excellent prints and slides. If there is something about the order that we think our customers might not be satisfied with (the image that they submitted may be low resolution or they may have accidentally requested that artwork be cropped), we actually contact the customer ahead of time to make them aware of the issue. Many times this results in orders being cancelled. You would think we would try to avoid that. But, more often than not, the customer places a new order later in the day from a new file and this time around we know that they'll be satisfied.

If for some reason the customer still isn't satisfied, they are covered under our guarantee. We guarantee all of our work 100%, regardless of whose fault it is. This one makes my job particularly stress free. If a customer calls and they need something fixed, we fix it. That sounds pretty simple and straight forward and not really much to brag about, but that simplicity is exactly what's worth bragging about.

We answer the phone when people call. We won't put you on hold or make you talk to a robot. If we don't answer because the lines are busy, leave a message and we'll call you back right away (usually within 30 mins). Then, once we're on the phone together, your problem should be solved within ten minutes.

That's it - you call, we answer and your problem is dealt with.

Our customers are really happy with the way that we treat them - and they tell us about it. It isn't uncommon that a customer will actually use the word "love" when they talk about how satisfied they are with their experiences with our company. Being on the receiving end of that is a pleasure. I'm actually smiling right now typing this, because it really does feel great to feel so appreciated by our customers.

Also, we're not just working with your average, everyday consumer here. We're helping a special group of people; we work with artists.

Artists are fascinating to work with.


Artists are people who are headed down a path that is not easily defined. They are creating art, courageously standing behind their work and presenting it to the world. It's not an easy thing to do.

These people, our customers, are coming to us because they need help realizing their dreams. And I don't mean to imply that we play a large role in that realization. The part we play is small, but important - important to the artist.

Being a part of that, working to help someone along that winding path, is really fun. I mean, of course, there are bumps and dead ends and wrong turns that come in the form of an unexpected color reproduction or a print being damaged in shipping or a file issue. But because we treat our customers like our partners, because we actually help them negotiate their way through these issues, even the tough things are a breeze.

So, I changed my mind. I decided to stick around and work for the man. That man, as we've already discussed, happens to be my dad. And, as it turns out, he's a pretty cool cat.

Hello, everybody!

So we just started this blog yesterday with a few posts about our business, some of our services, and an announcement about our aStore. Today I want to introduce myself as the author of this blog and give you an idea of how we intend to use it.

Basically, I plan to update the blog once or twice a week. I'm going to share stories with you about my experience working at iPrintfromHome.com (iPfH), which means I'll post news and updates about our company. But I also plan to share the human side of our company through this blog, because that's what these things are really about anyway, right? We read blogs so that we can connect with other people, share ideas and get inspired.

So let me tell you a little about me. My name is Sara Campos and I've been working for iPfH for almost 3 years now. Even though I've only been on the payroll for the last few years, I've actually been hanging around this company since I was a kid.

My dad, George Campos, started this business about 30 years ago. We began as a darkroom rental lab, servicing artists and professional photographers who wanted to have more control over their printing but didn't want to go to a custom lab, didn't have access to their own darkroom, or maybe didn't have the money to invest in creating their own facilities at home.

The company evolved through the years: we became a custom lab at one point - we made websites, videos and print displays - and we did some consulting. And now, almost 30 years later, we're still basically doing the same thing that we were doing back when the Campos Photography Center first opened its doors.

At iPrintfromHome.com, we're still helping artists and professional photographers create excellent reproductions of their work by giving them access to professional systems and technologies that they may not be able to access on their own without paying a hefty fee for the service and/or use of the machines. And the cool thing this time around is that now, with the advent of digital photography, we can help you do it all from the comfort of your home or studio or anywhere you happen to be.

The part I play at this company is actually really fun for me. I manage customer service and work on business development. Doing both of those things simultaneously is really interesting and exciting because I get to hear directly from the customers and then turn around and use that information to make suggestions about what development ideas we should pursue as a business.

In this blog, I plan to let you in on my thinking process and ask you to share your suggestions as you have them. At iPrintfromHome.com, we're just people helping people. And the best way to do that is to find out what people need and then figure out how we can deliver it in a way that benefits everyone. That's exactly what we've been doing for the last 30 years and we look forward to continuing the journey with you.

Welcome to our blog. Thanks for taking the time to read our posts. And, please feel free to share your ideas...we'd love to hear what you have to say.