About us

Stearman Press was started on a dare: several years ago, while skimming the romance novel his wife was reading, Timothy Klein remarked, “I can write better stuff than this!” “Well,” she replied. “Go do it.”

So he did. That simple dare rekindled a long simmering passion. The result is a series of action/adventure/romance novels set in pre-WW II, The Saga of the Ellen Jane. This was followed by (or more accurately, interrupted by) a novella: Cries from a Crusty Heart.  He's still finishing the Saga series and has been interrupted again, this time a romance set in the mountains of Colorado.

The company business plan had to be rewritten when his daughter developed an interest in film photography. Another long ignored passion was reignited and Timothy soon found himself lugging a 4x5 Super Graphic around. One problem: there were no elegant solutions for processing his own film. Thus the Kickstarter for the SP-445 film tank was launched.

Immediately after the Kickstarter campaign ended, Stearman Press started receiving inquires from photographers who had missed the cut-off date and wanted to purchase a system. Realizing that everyone who backed the Kickstarter would need film and processing chemistry, Stearman Press launched an online store focused (pun intended) on the unique requirements of 4x5 large format photography.

About our name and logo: the Stearman bi-plane is a WWII trainer and our company started on Stearman Court at the Erie Airport, Erie, Colorado.  (Note: we've since moved to Fort Lupton, CO.)