Whether in Kodachrome or on your iPhone, treasured personal photos can be organized and preserved with the help of these ideas from area pros.
By Patricia McDaniel
The history of photography stretches back to at least 1839 with Louis Daguerre and his famous daguerreotypes. The painstaking process produced some of the earliest photos in history, such as an 1846 image of Abraham Lincoln – and an 1844 image of Daguerre himself.
Fast forward nearly 200 years and the science of photography has evolved to the point where we can just whip out our cellphones and get that picture. We merrily take photos of our families, our pets, our travels and even our food, creating thousands of images stored in cellphone galleries. And that can come with a nagging feeling that our truly important photos get lost in the shuffle – or worse – wiped out entirely.
Here are some thoughts from area experts about how to bring your photos out of chaos, enjoy them more and, in the process, give your best photos the care they deserve.
“Everyone has a camera and scanner in their pockets now,” Bob McKay of McKay Imaging Photography of Red Bank said. He and his wife Elisabeth McKay have been in business for 30 years and have seen the evolution of photography, both in creating photographs and storing them.
“The technology keeps chang- ing,” McKay said. For example, when the McKays started in the business, customers were given CDs or DVDs for storage. Now it’s a USB drive, he said. But they always recommend an alternate electronic storage method – such as downloading to a computer or uploading to cloud storage – as a backup, he added.
Photos in Hand
Apart from safely backing up your photos, there is a growing demand for help in presenting them and making them easily accessible.
Alicia Wagner launched Orderly Photos, based in Manasquan, in 2017 to help people “safeguard their memories,” she said.
“In 2002, after losing my husband to cancer when our daughters were just 1 and 2, life took me to Los Angeles. During that time, I came to understand firsthand how important it is to preserve a family’s legacy. What began as a personal project grew into a passion,” Wagner said.
The name “Orderly” says it all, she added: neat, tidy, in order.
“My greatest joy comes from helping families protect their photos and stories so they can be shared for generations. Today, I’ve come full circle, back at the Shore,” she said (Wagner is a Red Bank Catholic graduate).
“At Orderly, my goal is to help people preserve their most meaningful memories in a way that brings joy and feels intentional, thoughtful and accessible. That can mean scanning printed photos, organizing digital collections, or creating albums and video compilations – always with the purpose of bringing calm to a process that can often feel overwhelming,” Wagner said.
She said she edits collections “as a partner in the process.” Some clients keep photos exactly as they are. Others “appreciate light editing, like color correction, cropping or repairing damage on older prints.”
She said her clients have their photo collections digitized so everything is “safe, searchable and easy to share.”
“Still, there’s something timeless about holding photos in your hands, flipping through a beautifully designed album or seeing them displayed on a gallery wall. Most of my clients choose both – digital peace of mind paired with tangible keepsakes,” she said.
She also has advice for general storage of your photos: Store prints in acid-free boxes and keep them out of attics and basements to avoid extremes of temperature and potential water damage.
She is, like McKay, a believer in backups. “I recommend having three copies: two in a physical format, like an external hard drive or computer hard drive, and one online copy, such as Dropbox or Amazon Photos.” She said, ideally, one of the physical copies should be stored off-site, perhaps at a family member’s house or in a safe deposit box, in case of fire or flood. She noted that some clients don’t keep printed copies at all and prefer digitized versions to hand off to future generations.
She also suggests thinking outside the box in terms of sharing photos more widely. “Local historical societies or libraries often welcome images that document community life. Donating photos of neighborhoods or landmarks can add to the historical record and allow future generations to see how their community has evolved,” she said.
Historical Photos
When it comes to photos with historical significance, George Severini of Fair Haven has a wealth of experience in the field, having embraced his longtime connection to the Dorn family of Red Bank. Daniel W. Dorn Sr. founded Dorn’s Photography, purchasing glass plates dating to the 1880s from other businesses in town that closed. “And then there was 80 years of (him) shooting photos professionally,” Severini said.
The family has donated 10,000 historic images to Monmouth University that will be stored at the Guggenheim Library there, he said. The university will release more information in the future about the collection as archiving begins. Severini said the images date from the 1880s to the 1970s and include 5,000 aerials among the 10,000.
Severini was a communications consultant for major companies, an artist since he was a child and a writer. He said he also worked in various capacities with Monmouth County and the Monmouth County Park System, directed videos and became familiar with county history over the years. He suggested people consider inquiring with their local historical societies about donating relevant family pictures.
People can also tackle digitizing their older print photos, he said, noting how affordable scanners are today for nonprofessional use. If you do digitize your own photos, he recommends using the JPG option in storage. He noted that most computers and phones come with software to organize and label photos, in addition to many editing functions.
Photo Trends
Photographs don’t just have to be archived, kept in albums or otherwise stored. They can be turned into a variety of objects – perfect for the upcoming gift-giving season – such as mugs, blankets and puzzles, from companies like Mpix, Michaels and Walgreens. Photos can also be enlarged to the point where they can dominate a wall, even if they didn’t start out high-quality.
Bob McKay said his business can work with low-resolution photos and, sometimes using AI technology, create a high-resolution print to enlarge the photo.
Erin Crinigan, owner of 90° Framing & Fine Art Services in Red Bank, said a recent trend when updating photos from the 1990s, for example, is to reproduce them in black and white and replace the outdated wooden or gold-tone frames with a floating frame for a more contemporary look. Crinigan said her business can also restore photos that are severely damaged with the help of a Cape May-based expert. He recently worked on a project to chemically remove mold from a very old photo for a client.
No matter what you want to do with your photos, consider making this fall the season you get them in order for yourself, for loved ones and for future generations.
Learn more from Orderly Photos’ Alicia Wagner at the Oceanic Free Library in Rumson at 11 a.m. Oct. 22 when she will discuss how to prepare your photos for scanning. She will also be at the library Oct. 29 to scan photos in 30-minute sessions. Fee required. Visit orderlyphotos.com, the Oceanic Free Library’s website at oceaniclib.org or email Wagner at alicia@orderlyphotos.com for more information.
The article originally appeared in the September 11 – 17, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
