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Photographs

Prints, snapshots, the stack from the shoebox — the ones you actually want back.

Loose prints are where most collections start. We scan them at archival resolution — both sides, because the backs so often carry names, dates, and notes in someone's own hand — return them organized, and hand you back digital copies you can finally share. The scanner captures what's there — faded, creased, or perfect — and we preserve it faithfully.

A woodcut-style illustration of a family sitting together looking out over a lake
Did a human look at this?

Yes. Every single photo. By hand.

Big mail-in labs run thousands of photos through a machine and call it a day. Here, we open every image, judge it with our own eyes, and correct it one at a time — the way someone who actually cares about your memories would. And when we come across one that stops us — a shot that's truly something — we tell you. We point it out, talk it through, and stay connected with you until you're happy. The same people you talked to before you ever sent your photos in.

What we do with photographs

Resolution
600 DPI — the archival standard. Enough detail to reprint at original size or larger.
Front and back
We scan both sides of every photo. The backs are where the gold is — names, dates, places, messages in a relative's own handwriting. We capture all of it so the story stays with the picture.
Raw + corrected
You get both: the untouched high‑def archival master and a cleaned‑up version with fading reversed, faces sharpened, and color corrected.
Batch handling
Sturdy prints run through a fast automatic feeder; fragile, oversized, or one‑of‑a‑kind prints go on the flatbed. Either way, edges are auto‑detected and cropped clean.
Framed & in albums
We take photos out of frames and albums, scan them, and put them back exactly as they were. Try getting a big mail‑in company to do that.
Sorted & grouped
Sorted by size and orientation, grouped by batch, and checked for duplicates — so nothing gets lost, doubled, or mis‑cropped.
Dates & orientation
Every image is automatically dated and turned right‑side up. Dates and names are embedded into each file, so photos land in the right spot on your timeline.
Restoration included
Every photo gets basic restoration at no extra charge — color correction, exposure, red‑eye removal, gentle cleanup. Not an upsell, not a separate tier. It's just what a scan is here.
Color & exposure
Faithful capture first. Where a print has shifted or faded, we correct downstream — never baked into the raw scan.
Delivery
One link drops everything into your Google Photos or Apple Photos within 48 hours — or download the files straight to your computer. Originals come back organized in lettered Clear Cases, with an optional fireproof Black Box. Your photos never leave the neighborhood.
Why it's different

Your photos stay yours, start to finish.

Your collection never gets shuffled into a bin with hundreds of strangers' photos at some far‑off warehouse. We handle your originals ourselves, here in the neighborhood, and pass along the old‑school tricks for keeping them safe — not optimizing to run them through a machine alongside everyone else's.

What a mail-in lab won't do

48 hours

Not three to four weeks in a queue across the country.

One person

Every photo touched by hand by someone you've met — not an assigned tech in a far‑off lab.

Pay when happy

You see your scans first and only pay once you're happy with them — no deposit games.

All included

Restoration and red‑eye come standard, not as a line‑item upsell.

Common problems we fix

Fading

Color prints from the 70s–90s drift toward orange or magenta. We rebalance to something close to the original.

Surface damage

Scratches, dust, and creases reduced without scrubbing away real detail.

Odd sizes

90s prints often run a non‑standard ~4x7. Sorted by size and orientation so nothing gets lost or mis‑cropped.

Stuck together

Prints fused in old albums are separated carefully before scanning.

Pricing

$1 per photo

600 DPI scan front and back, enhanced version, originals returned. About $200 per shoebox (~200 photos).