All That Glitters is Not Gold...Sometime's it's Silver!

by Kate Dardine

We’ve always referred to each other as “family” -  maybe that is why we just celebrated two 25 year anniversaries:  both Mike Roberts (production manager) and Patricia James (color technician) marked their silver anniversaries with Fine Print this past April.  Aside from owners Mark Lukes and Linda Helm, I am officially the “oldest” Fine Print employee – I passed my 25 year mile marker in 2014.  Other contenders for extreme longevity are Mary Hills (24), Tonya Aspegren (15) and Jerry Hummel (18).

In an age where staying at a job longer than five years is virtually unheard of, what is it about Fine Print that creates an atmosphere where employees want to stay?  In a nutshell (and sometimes he IS a nut), founder, owner and president of Fine Print, Mark Lukes and his partner in love and business, Linda Helm.  Together, they have nurtured a business culture of independence, cooperation, dedication, fun, honesty, caring, environmental stewardship and compassion.  Mark and Linda lead by example, are always there for their employees, demand excellence and forgive mistakes.  All the ingredients needed to make their staff feel proud and appreciated for the work we do. 

Although they have different roles at Fine Print, Patricia and Mike have some things in common.  Both got married within a month of working at Fine Print.  (Both are still married – to the same people!). Both had children who were born and grew up in that 25 years – Patricia’s son David graduated from college 2 years ago, and Mike’s 3 are all in college now, with one graduating this Spring.  Both are still doing the job they hired on for, although how they do their job has changed dramatically. Both are willing to pitch in and do whatever needs to be done to help the business and our customers.

Yes, 25 years is a long time… In 1991, digital imaging wasn’t even a blip on our computer screens; in fact, we had only just gotten our first computers in 1989. At that time, all of our printing was done in the darkroom,  using negative film and enlargers to create prints on photographic paper.  We had three full-time “spotters” (they used photographic dyes to fill in the tiny white spots on prints that were caused by dust on the negatives).  We didn’t do “single” prints; customers had to buy in quantities of the same image/size:  20-5x7s, 10-8x10s, 5-16x20s… Instead of entering packages into a computer system for tracking, everything was handwritten into logbooks. Nobody had a cell phone. Our newest piece of office equipment was the cutting edge fax machine!

Through all the changes in technology, the changing economy and  the changing “face” of our customer base, one thing has remained constant – Mike and Patricia’s dedication to getting the best prints possible to the best customer in the world – YOU!

 Kate Dardine has been helping photographers and artists market their prints for over 25 years. She is currently Marketing Director at Fine Print Imaging, as well as a professional artist selling original paintings and prints. Need one on one advice?  Call 970-484-9650 or email info@fineprintimaging.com to learn about our marketing consultation service