CRYSTAL LAKE – Until Priscilla Harper found out about Downtown Photo, the Crystal Lake photographer was regularly driving into the city for her printing needs.

She wouldn’t settle for anything short of a professional-level look to her photos.

“A lot of lesser quality-labs, what happens is they’re happy with the status quo, because they’re more concerned with making money. They’re not going and investing in really serious printing equipment,” said Harper, a nature photographer who has had a photo in the Smithsonian Museum of National History. “The type of equipment (Downtown Photo owner) Jim (Pierce) has is the most recent, the most up to date. And that’s going to put out a much finer print than the lesser-quality equipment.”