Preserve your memories ​forever and for others.

Helping you create safe, searchable and shareable photo collections.

Large Photo Collection – Zero Customer Effort

SCANNING PROJECTS

Large Photo Collection – Organized Using Shoeboxes (Gotta love that!)

Personal Approach

In our phone consultation, we discussed the current state of his collection, in what manner he wanted to preserve and use it once it's in a digital format and if he wanted to pre-organize and prepare his collection in advance. We discussed my optional services to remove and replace the photos, as well as to create digital folders using the names he provided if he wanted to pre-organize them into categories. 

Due to the number of photos involved and his desire to remove any duplicates, he opted to remove the photos from the albums himself. He organized the photos into categories using the name of the album from which they came so that the photos could be put back into their proper place. He opted to use envelopes to group his photos and wrote the folder name on top of each envelope. For those albums that needed more than one envelope, he included a #1, #2, #3, etc., at the end so that each grouping could be scanned in order.

​He delivered the photos in two boxes with lids to protect them. He did not overstuff them so as to keep the photos from getting bent, curled or damaged. Good job!

Customer Collection

The customer had approximately 5000 extremely well preserved 4x6 inch photos that were currently stored in pocket-type photo albums.

Customer Collection
This customer's collection consisted completely of 4x6 inch photos. She used shoeboxes to hold and transport all the photos. Although shoeboxes are "deadly" for storing photos long term, they work great in the short run for keeping photos organized and stable when prepping them for scanning. (Inexpensive photo boxes are another great option. Just don't use them for storing your photos longterm. You'll need archival-safe boxes for that.)

Her collection was quite huge and she planned to preserve them in several batches. Her first batch was over 6,000 photos. Her second batch was over 5,000.

Personal Approach
After discussing his motivation, goals and "whys" for preserving his collection, it was decided that the photos would be scanned as-is without regard to any order. He simply wanted to get them scanned so they'd be safe from any disaster and he could pass them on to his children. He wasn't concerned that they weren't in any particular order. He was getting the photos preserved and safe. It would be up to his kids to organize them if desired. 

Some clients like to pre-sort and purge. Some like to pre-sort, purge and do high-level organizing. Others like to go the extra mile and prefer to pre-sort, purge and organize to a specific level using names, places, events, years, etc. And still others just want to get them scanned! No extra effort required!

While removing and replacing the photos from the envelopes, it was discovered that many had a 2nd set of photos mixed in. As part of the personalized approach I take with each customer, I separated the duplicates as best I could to avoid any unnecessary scan costs and eliminate digital clutter in his collection.

For projects such as this one in which all the photos must be removed prior to scanning, and then replaced (if the customer wants), and the customer has no desire to do any hands-on pre-scan prepping, I do the work for them removing and replacing the photos (and trying to eliminate duplicates) for an additional fee. The perfect custom solution for the client getting his or her ideal digital collection without any of the stress or additional work.​

Success Story

This customer received exactly what he wanted: a zero-effort (other than dropping off and picking up his photos), high-quality digital collection perfectly preserving all of his family's birthdays, vacations, celebrations, graduations, kids' school and sports activities, etc.  Four additional flash drives were provided one for each of his children so they could relive and enjoy every memory again, and to share with their own children the stories of their childhood and those of their grandma and grandpa. A happy ending!

Large Photo Collection – Mirror Images

Personal Approach
As with other customers, especially those with large collections, we discussed her goals for her ideal digital collection such as: (1) how she intended to use the collection now and in the future; (2) what her current digital organizational structure is; (3) with whom she wanted to leave the collection; (4) with whom she wanted to share it with now; and (5) what digital capabilities did she want now and to provide to future generations.

Based on her goals, I suggested she organize her print collection into categories that mirror her current folder structure by creating meaningful folder names that would also double as the file name and keywords. This would make searching for specific photos extremely quick and easy. She currently was organizing her digital photos by year and events, so she was thrilled to have the option to pre-organize her photos in the same manner.

How She Organized Her Collection

She used a 4x6 inch index card to write out the folder name for each category/event. She then placed the index card on top of its respective photos and placed them in fold-over type sandwich bags. (There are many options available to separate and organize your photos for scanning. This customer found using the sandwich bags worked best for her.) 

Customer Collection

This customer's collection consisted of 4x6 inch photos, all in their original processing envelopes. Hundreds of envelopes! Thousands of photos in no particular order.  He had no desire to do anything with them except to box them up and bring them to me. He had better things to do with his time! The scanning was done in batches. As the customer found more photos, he brought them in for scanning. In the end, there were three batches totally approximately 8,500 photos.

HOW WE WORK OUR MAGIC FOR YOU

These collections included anywhere from 5,000 to more than 10,000 photos. They consisted of mostly 4x6 inch photos that were organized or maybe not so much!

Success Story
This customer received back the digital collection of her dreams! It perfectly matched the folder structure of her current collection. No additional organizing or renaming involved. Plus, she could find a photo quickly by any event type because she chose to pre-organize and use meaningful folder/file names. No generic, unidentifiable file names for her!

In the end, she received over 200 personalized folders filled with her family's most precious memories that made her photo collection complete to date.

Success Story

​The customer received 27 digital folders filled with archival quality scans that perfectly mirrored his original albums. The photos can easily be returned to their respective albums for safe-keeping and as a print backup. (Did you know that printed photos are still an excellent way to preserve your favorite memories?) His digital scans were placed on a 64 GB flash drive that will be used as a backup after they are copied to his computer and cloud storage. 

LARGE COLLECTIONS