Dear reader,
I was walking past an older woman recently — exquisitely put together, elegant, the kind of person who looks like she's carrying a whole archive of tales from her time.
And it got me thinking: where do our stories go? Do they just walk around inside a person while they pick up the groceries, and then quietly leave with them?
We've never had more ways to share a photo. But somewhere between the albums on the lounge-room floor and the group chat, we lost the part that mattered — sitting beside someone while they turn the pages and the stories come loose.
That's what this is. Not just the scanning of photos. Catching the stories before they're gone.
Everything below is laid out simply, prices included, so you can see the whole shape of it before we ever talk. Nothing is fixed — we can take one piece, a few, or the whole lot.
— Kerry
Where do you want to start?
Most people come to me about a parent. But plenty of archives belong to the person reading this. If the stories you want kept are your own — you don't need to wait until someone buys this for you.
The clear paths
For a modest archive and the stories you'd most hate to lose. One sitting together, up to 5 stories written down properly, a dates & details record for up to 150 photos, and the digital keepsake — stories and photos laid out in designed spreads, made to be read the way an album is read.
One file, sent to every person in the family, wherever they are in the world. Nothing to maintain, no login, nothing to renew.
We then digitise the rest of your archive, quoted at a reduced rate once we've seen the boxes together. If you'd like it printed and bound, ask — I quote that separately.
free conversation
For a rich life and a deep archive. As many sittings as the stories need, the complete digital keepsake, and every image handed back to you.
We agree one whole price up front; you pay session by session as we go, always inside that number. No surprises, ever.
Because the photographs aren't the work — the stories are. A single picture might unlock the richest tale of someone's whole life, and another hundred might pass by in a few minutes. Charging by the photo would price the easy part and give away the part that matters.
Or, piece by piece
You hand me your photos, boxes and all. I scan them carefully, return the originals safely, and give you every image backed up — Google Drive, Dropbox or hard drive — and yours to keep. I can digitally file them just as they're filed now, album by album, shoebox by shoebox.
The step in between. You might not want stories written down, but you do want the dates, the names, a short caption with some images. Every image filed into digital folders by era, person, or event — so the archive is something you can find your way around. Not just safe, but sorted.
We sit together and move through the archive. I ask, I listen, and I write each story down so it's saved alongside the photo it belongs to. From then on, the story and the picture travel together.
How does payment work?
For The Doorway, the price is confirmed before the job starts. I take your images away, scan them, and send the invoice when scanning is complete — paid before the photos and digital backup come home to you.
For the other packages, a deposit of one session ($360) books you in and covers our first sitting together. It's the only thing paid up front. From there, session by session as we go — always inside the agreed whole price, so you're never handed a surprise.
If the person we're recording passes away before we finish: everything already captured is finished properly and given to you — even a single session becomes something precious. Nothing further is owed beyond the sittings already done. We agree this in writing at the start, so it never has to be worked out in a hard moment.
Any session can pause or stop the moment it needs to. Your comfort sets the pace, not the plan.
What you're left holding
Everything. And it's all yours.
A conversation.
Free, no obligation.
A cup of tea, a look at what you have, and an honest answer about what it would take — including "this isn't right for us," if that's the truth. If you go ahead, you'll have the whole price in writing before anything starts.
I'm in Perth. Sitting-together sessions work best in person, in your own home.
Further out? Ask — some of it travels well.