Company History

Company founder, Dean Hesketh, began his company as a photographer. A graduate of the prestigious Art Center of Los Angeles in 1955, Dean opened up his first studio in Anaheim, Ca that same year. As his portrait studio grew, he began to do commercial photography assignments for many of Southern California’s new and growing corporations.

As the photography business grew, so did his need for photo lab services, so he added those in-house and began to provide processing and printing for other local photographers. As the lab portion of the business grew, Dean withdrew from taking pictures and focus his efforts on making picture. In the late 1960’s, Photomation was created to serve the B/W volume printing needs of the public relations departments and PR agencies for whom he was making prints.

In 1971 we moved to our present location on La Palma Ave in Anaheim, Ca. Over the next score of years the company expanded into color printing and counted many major corporations as clients. In 1994, Dean retired and turned the company over to the next generation of the family to run. 

Beginning in 1995, Photomation invested heavily into the burgeoning digital imaging technology and became a leader in the transition from traditional film based printing to digital printing. Embracing change has been a constant in the company history and continues to be a cornerstone of how the company has evolved to become the one-stop graphic resource it is today.

Technology has changed a lot since 1955, but one thing has not…our commitment to our mission of being our client’s trusted first choice in providing products of outstanding quality, competitive value, and delivering the best client experience in the markets we serve.

Today, we continue to count some of those same companies Dean started with back his early days as our clients – a testament to our ability to adapt to the changing needs of today’s clients. We keep adding new clients that reflect the changing landscape of the markets we serve. Clients love to buy from us because of our extraordinary commitment to service and outstanding quality. We offer solutions and suggestions that improve the end product for our clients and save them money.

Our company vision is to “Be recognized by our clients as their best supplier.” Let us show you we mean it. Give us a call and see how we can improve your look and your bottom line. We love what we do. It is our pleasure to serve you!