Meet Melissa McPherson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa McPherson.

Hi Melissa, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always loved old family photos and their stories. In 2017 after my grandfather passed away I found myself with thousands of his negatives. I wanted to see what was on them in an efficient way. I quickly learned that traditional scanning methods are very slow so I started to explore other options. I found camera scanning and a supportive professional organization, The Photo Managers, as well as many mentors and teachers along the way. I launched my business, Hello My Photos in May of 2021 after completing an awesome mentorship program developed by Miss Freddy, where I learned a great way to organize digital photos remotely. I haven’t stopped organizing photos for clients since! Printed photos or digital photos stuck on your phone, I can organize them, digitize them, back them up and make them shareable. That’s the point! I want to help people enjoy their photos.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When I’m not preserving family photos I am hanging out with my own family. During lockdown, it was very hard to manage Zoom school for two young children and navigate my new small business at the same time.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I absolutely LOVE to create family photo archives for my clients. Basically, that means I pick up all of their photos from their home or they drop them off, I organize them chronologically and scan them using museum quality equipment. From there, I can re-date them, add relevant file names, I add keyword tags like “birthday”, “vacation” and facial recognition that are embedded into the photo file. The family photo archive is then uploaded to a private website where clients can view and share their photos! It’s a beautiful thing. I am most proud of how I’ve grown in my technical skill. I want to give the best results and I try to constantly improve on my techniques. From color correction to creating family narratives with photos and texts for photo books, I want the very best end result for my clients.

I think what sets me apart is my flexibility. Our family photos tell stories and I understand that it is so exciting to be able to view all of our family photos in one place for the first time! I am a one stop shop so if a client wants to know more about the photo of a particular ancestor, I can research that. If they would like an image color corrected and a print shipped to them, I am totally open to that as well. A photo book – no problem! I am open-minded and flexible, the sky is the limit!

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I am thankful for supportive family and friends who trusted me with their most precious photo memories while I learned the ropes! I am so grateful for my husband and sons who support me in doing work that I love.

Pricing:

• 15 min complementary project consult
• per piece scanning starts at .50 cents / item
• Digital Sessions start at $1000 up to 3 sources

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.hellomyphotos.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellomy.photos/

Image Credits:
Michael Chylinski took my tintype portrait. I took the rest.