Why bother

Those boxes aren't getting any younger.

Most people have them somewhere. A shoebox in a closet, a stack of albums in the garage, an envelope from the drugstore that never got put anywhere. Colour prints from the seventies and eighties are already fading, and every one of them exists in exactly one copy.

One flood, one fire, one leaking roof and they're gone. Scanning them means they exist in more than one place, your family can all have a set, and you can actually look at them without digging through a closet.

An old wooden crate crammed with curling black-and-white and sepia family photographs.

How it works

Three steps, and I do most of them.

You drop them off, or I pick them up

Bring your photos to me in Cottonwood, or I'll collect them from your door anywhere in the Verde Valley for $7.50 each way. Boxes, albums, envelopes, loose piles. However they come is fine.
I scan them here, usually in 1 to 3 days

Every photo is scanned by hand in my home studio in Cottonwood, anything from 2x2 up to 8x10. If there's handwriting on the back, a date or a name, I scan that too and keep it with the picture. Nothing gets shipped to a warehouse and nothing leaves the valley. If your collection is a big one, I'll tell you how long it will really take once I've seen it.
You get everything back

Every one of your original photographs comes back to you, along with a wooden USB drive in a wooden box holding every digital copy. Plug it into any computer. There is nothing to install and no account to make.

An open wooden keepsake box with a walnut USB drive resting on moss inside, surrounded by small bunches of dried flowers.

What you get back

Something worth handing to someone.

Your photos don't come back on a plastic stick in a padded envelope. They come back on a walnut USB drive, in a wooden box packed with natural moss and a small bunch of dried flowers, tied with jute twine, with a thank you card inside.

It's the kind of thing you can wrap and give to your sister at Christmas without having to do anything else to it.

You also get every photo twice. One scan exactly as your original looks today, and a second copy with faded colour and contrast brought back. Both sit on the drive in their own folders, and the enhanced set costs nothing extra.

The files themselves are ordinary photo files at full quality. Want a second drive so another family member gets a set too? That's $20.

See the full price list

Using them

Plug it in. That's the whole instruction.

There is no software to install, no account to create, no password and no subscription. You put the drive into any computer and your photographs are there, in folders, the way files have always worked.

From there they're yours to do whatever you like with. Copy them, print them, email them to your children, or load them onto a digital photo frame.

And if you'd rather someone showed you that first step in person, say so when you pick them up. I'll walk you through it.

A hand plugging a wooden USB drive into the side of a laptop.

Your photographs

I know what you're handing over.

For most people these are the only copies that exist. Here's exactly how I treat them.

They never leave Cottonwood. I scan everything myself, in my own home studio. Nothing is shipped to a processing warehouse and nothing is sent overseas.
One person handles them, start to finish. That's me, Bobby McKinley. You'll have my name and my cell number the whole time your photos are with me.
Every photograph comes back. I group them by size while I'm scanning, so they may come back sorted differently than they arrived. Nothing is thrown away, trimmed, cut or written on, and I keep no copies once the drive is in your hands.
You'll know the price before I start. I count them first and tell you the number. If your box turns out bigger than we both thought, I call you before doing anything.
Days, not months. Most jobs are back with you in one to three days, so your photographs aren't sitting in someone else's building for weeks.

Pricing

Plain prices, published.

No quotes to chase, no hourly rate that creeps. The price depends on how many photos you have, and that's it.

Up to 250 photos

$99

251 to 500 photos

$179

501 to 1,000 photos

$329

Over 1,000 photos is 29¢ each. Restoration, colorization, document scanning and folder organization are extra. See the full price list.

Questions

Things people ask me.

How much does it cost to get old photos scanned?

It starts at $99 for up to 250 photos. 251 to 500 photos is $179, and 501 to 1,000 is $329. Above a thousand it's 29¢ per photo. Those prices include the scanning, the wooden USB drive and the keepsake box, and getting your originals back.

How many photos do I actually have?

Almost nobody knows, and you don't need to. As a rough guide, a shoebox usually holds 300 to 500 photos and a standard album holds 200 to 400. Tell me roughly what you've got and I'll count them properly before any work starts, then tell you the price.

Do I get my original photos back?

Yes, always, every single one. I group them by size while I'm scanning, so they may come back sorted differently than they arrived, but nothing is ever thrown away. The scanning itself doesn't change or damage the print. Nothing is cut, trimmed or written on.

How long does it take?

Most jobs are back with you in one to three days. Very large collections take longer, and I'll give you a real date once I've seen what you have rather than guessing over the phone.

What kind of photos can you scan?

Printed photographs from 2x2 up to 8x10, which covers almost everything in a normal family collection. Wallet photos, square prints from the sixties, the standard 4x6 drugstore size, and portraits up to 8x10.

I can also digitize documents and keepsakes like recipes, letters, certificates, newspaper clippings and children's artwork, at 40¢ a page. I don't currently do slides, negatives or video tapes.

Do you scan the back of photos?

Yes, and at no extra charge. If there's handwriting on the back, a date, a name, a place, or a note from whoever sent it, that gets scanned too and saved alongside the picture.

This matters more than people expect. The photograph tells you what someone looked like. The back of it is often the only thing that still tells you who they were and when it was taken, and that handwriting is usually the last of it anywhere.

Can you sort the photos into folders for me?

Yes. For $49 I'll organize your digital files into named folders like Family, Holidays, Pets and Vacations, plus whatever else fits your collection, rather than handing you one long list of file names. It's worth it on bigger jobs, where finding one particular picture later is the hard part.

Do I need to be good with computers?

No. You get a USB drive with ordinary photo files on it. You plug it into a computer and the pictures are there in folders. There's no software to install, no account to create and no subscription.

What is the enhanced version, and why is it free?

Every photo comes back twice. One folder holds the scan exactly as your original looks today. The other holds the same photo with faded colour and flat contrast brought back, so a washed out picture from the seventies looks closer to how it did when it was printed. It is an automatic adjustment I run over the whole batch, so it costs me nothing to give you and I don't charge for it.

That is different from restoration. Restoration is hand work on one photograph at a time, repairing actual damage like tears, creases and water marks, and that starts at $3 each. If a photo is only faded, the free enhanced copy is usually all it needs.

Can you fix a damaged or faded photo?

Often, yes. It's worth saying how. The repair is done digitally, on the scan. I scan your photograph exactly as it is, then fix the tears, creases, water damage and fading on the computer copy. Your original print is never cut, treated or altered in any way; it comes back to you just as it arrived. Restoration starts at $3 per photo and badly damaged pictures cost more. Adding colour to a black-and-white photograph is $5 per photo. Show me the photo and I'll tell you honestly what can be done with it and what it will cost.

Which towns do you cover?

Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Jerome, Sedona, Village of Oak Creek, Camp Verde, Cornville, Rimrock and Verde Village. Pickup and drop-off is $7.50 each way anywhere in that area.

Get started

Tell me roughly what you've got.

You don't need an exact count and you don't need to decide anything today. Send me a message and I'll reply with a price and answer any questions.

Prefer to talk? Call or text (928) 499‑9489. I answer between 7am and 5pm.

Your name

Phone number The quickest way for me to reach you.

Email address So I can send your quote in writing.

Roughly how many photos?

Anything else? Optional.

Email me now and then with tips on looking after old photographs, and the occasional offer. Once a month at most, and you can stop any time.

I'll reply within one working day. I never share your details, and you'll only get those emails if you tick the box. See the privacy notice.

Get your old photos scanned, right here in Cottonwood.