Serving the Photographic Industry since 1983
Established in 1983, Photo Expressions has been capturing and printing your photographic memories ever since. We are passionate about photos and the stories they tell. As a local, family owned business, we are members of the community and understand the importance of hard work and service and take your trust in us very seriously. We will always strive to give you the best quality, value and experience! Read on for a little of our history.
Established as a One Hour Film
Photofinishing Lab in 1983
Our business started as a One-hour Photofinishing and Camera store called Photo Express in 1983 in the Haney Place Mall, Maple Ridge, British Columbia. This was in the film days, when you didn’t get to see your pictures until you had your roll of film developed. While in the mall we also added in Custom Framing, a Portrait Studio, Scrapbooking and started our School and Sports Photography Division. We were packed and had to move! Around this time, digital cameras were also becoming available to the public which really shifted our business model as film photography started to be replaced with digital.
There were two other Photo Express locations prior to our current location in Port Coquitlam. We spent the next decade (2002-2012) beside the Maple Ridge Library on Dewdney Trunk Road and this location saw the huge expansion of our scrapbooking section. What fun those days were with so many classes and people lining up at 3am to secure tickets for our sold out Scrapbooking Crops. After this location, we were located in the Meadow Ridge Shopping Center from 2012 – 2019. We have changed and adapted over the years from film to digital and continually stay up to date with technology and ahead of the curve. This location saw the retirement of our scrapbooking division and our camera hardware division when we moved to our current location and our business became focused on our photography which had become our main business. In 2019 we moved to Port Coquitlam, British Columbia in the Fremont Village. Our beautiful warehouse space has lots of room for all of our production equipment, our studio, and our staff. We also changed our name to Photo Expressions because we are so much more than a one-hour photofinishing store.
Photo Expressions … because every picture tells a story.
Our main focus is Photography. For the consumer and professional photographer, we have an onsite professional photo lab offering prints from wallet size to gigantic poster size. It is easy to order prints online directly from your phone or computer or in store at our kiosks where we are always available to help you and answer your questions. You can also order photo gifts such as mugs, canvas prints, metal prints, photo books and more. We offer custom framing, video transfers, photo scanning and photo restorations and so much more.
Our beautiful Portrait Studio is perfect for your portrait needs whether that is an updated head shot of you or a new family photo for your wall. We are experts at Passport Photos including baby passports (we are known as the baby whisperers!). If you have a photo need, we can probably help you.
Photo Expressions is also a high volume, amazing service, School and Sports Photographer, photographing all over the Lower Mainland of British Columbia up to Kelowna. Our expert photographers photograph preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and grads. We also photograph all types of sports including soccer, volleyball, hockey, football, dance and more. Find out how we work with our schools to help them raise money through our various fundraising programs including Family Photo Fundraisers, Yearbooks, and our very popular and successful Created by Kids Art program which is run Canada wide.
Photo Expressions has always been a family run business with Marcel and Muriel employing all of their children at one point or another and with three of their kids actively involved in running the business today. Marcel and Muriel like it so much, they are both still working well into their 70’s! The staff also become part of our family and many have been with us for decades. You can trust us with your memories.
Fun facts about Marcel and Muriel: Met at a party. Got married in 1965. Have 5 kids and 8 grandkids. Marcel’s favourite snack is peanuts and Muriel’s is Hawkins Cheesies. Most people call them Pepere and Memere.
Meet The Family…
Ron is our General Manager and heads up our photography team working with all of our schools and sports associations. He has worked at Photo Expressions since he was a little kid – testing batteries and loading film!
Fun fact – Ron runs www.shootlikethepros.com, our photography education website.
Bonus fun fact – Ron is a “stock photographer” on the side, he uploads images to commercial image banks, which they then sell to advertisers. Guess you could say, he knows photograhy!
Ashlee is our Operations Manager and has literally been working at Photo Expressions since she was in the womb! Officially she started as a young child in the lab which she now runs, managing the day to day production and quality of all things photo related. Her first job was peeling off the tape that held the film rolls to the plastic feeder sheets.
When Ashlee is not at work, you can find her adventuring outside on hikes, kayaking and camping, at a local theatre or reading a book with her well known kitty, Milo.
Michele is our Head Storyteller and has worked at Photo Expressions since day one in 1983. In that time she has worked in almost every department and job from printing film and developing B&W by hand, to custom framing to customer service to running the very large scrapbooking section.
Michele has loved photography ever since she received her first Kodak Instamatic 126 Film camera at the age of 9 and has been telling stories and documenting her life with photography ever since. Michele is very passionate about the importance of photos and will remind you often to PRINT your favourites and back them up!