About

I’ve been practicing photography since high school in the ’90s (thanks, Mr. Hildreth!). Back then I shot everything on my Dad’s old Minolta SRT‑101 and spent countless hours in the darkroom developing black and white film and making prints.

During college, I had no photo lab access, so I transitioned toward shooting color film (using Costco’s film labs) before eventually transitioning to digital. I first picked up pocket cams, and eventually scaled up to a Canon Rebel XT DSLR.

As smartphones became more viable as cameras in the early iPhoneography days, I wanted a new quality pocket option. I developed a successful black and white photography app called Simply B&W to help with those moments when I didn’t want a bigger camera, harkening back to my early adventures shooting black and white.

Eventually, as our young kids grew up and we relocated to Seattle, life became busier. During that life transition, I handed that app off to the awesome Fotosyn, who continues to maintain and iterate the app today. In our new hometown, I continued to hone my landscape and travel photography digitally, along with documentary shots of the pandemic.

During the pandemic, I got the film itch again and started shooting some B&W rolls. I bought some HC‑110 and development equipment, developed rolls of HP5 in our basement, and re-ignited my interest in film.

Without labs to make prints though, I got frustrated with the process of digitizing film for either online sharing or inkjet printing. I knew there had to be a better process, and with our kids now entering young adulthood I’ve found more time to get back to personal app development. With that renewed film interest, and fueled by frustration with existing scan conversion software, I set out to build my idealized negative conversion software, informed by my photographic journey.

Through my professional career as an engineer, I have been very fortunate to work in the intersection of art and tech that Steve Jobs always talked about. In addition to my iPhone apps, I spent nearly a decade designing guitar amps and other audio equipment after graduating college.

With that crossover of technical skills, passion for the arts, and keen attention to detail, I have poured months into Raw Positive and I’m super proud of how it has evolved. I hope you also find Raw Positive as helpful in your photography journey as I do.