Protect, restore family photos damaged by hurricanes and floodwaters

Restoring flood damaged photos could be done

Hurricanes and floods can damage not only property, but family history by damaging photos and memories. FOX 26's Consumer Reporter Heather Sullivan spoke with Steve Durgin from Memories 4ever on how those photos can be restored.

HOUSTON - In the Gulf region, we know all too well that hurricanes and floods can not only damage property, they can wipe out family history by damaging family photos.

When someone's fleeing from a disaster, it's often the family photos that they try to save. But it's not always possible.

We asked a professional photo manager to show us how to keep photos safe, and how to bring them back to life after they've been damaged.

Memories 4ever preserving family memories

The backstory:

After seeing so many families lose their precious family photos in Hurricane Harvey, Steve Durgin became inspired.

"You drag and clone that area," he said, showing us how he restores damaged photos using software.

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He became a professional photo manager and restorer, with his Memories 4ever traveling photo workshop, painting with his mouse and artificial intelligence like an artist, to help photos tell their tales again.

"I’ll use what they call a clone and stamp tool from Photoshop. So I'll clone that area and put it over here," Durgin showed us.

Digitize family photos before flood damage

Tips to digitize photos, preserve memories

When hurricanes and flood waters hit, precious family photos can be seriously damaged. FOX 26's Consumer Reporter Heather Sullivan has a way you can have those photos digitized with Steve Durgin from Memories 4ever.

What we know:

Floodwaters can drown printed memories, but Durgin says water isn't the worst problem, it's the mold.

"If things get wet, don’t panic, you can clean them. Just don’t touch the surface, or you’ll smear it. You can clean the dirty water off of them and get them dry, so the mold doesn't form," he explained.

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Then Durgin takes a digital photo of the photo, and fills in missing gaps with colors from other parts of the image. He showed us examples of photos that went from being faded and damaged, to looking like they were just taken.    

"Some chin details with the mother and see if that works. I'll try to shrink it if that doesn't work. Sometimes I try to get a picture, another picture of the little girl," he said.

But while restoration is possible, his best tip, he says, "is get it digitized before it floods." He says begin by sorting which photos to digitize.

"A tip for that is very quickly: yes, no, maybe. Yes, photos, they're pretty easy. That baby picture. No photos, that squirrel that’s fuzzy. More than two seconds, put it in the maybe pile," he suggested.

He says you don't need to digitize all of your photos, just enough to tell your story. "You want to digitize enough to preserve your story. You want your story preserved for future generations," he said.

A story that can then be stored safely on a hard drive, a thumbnail, or in the cloud, where storm clouds can't wash away the chapters of your life.

What you can do:

There are several ways to digitize photos that Durgin says vary in quality and cost.

He says you can use an app called Photomyne for $40 to $60 a year.

An Epson Fastfoto scanner runs about $600.

You can send photos to a company that digitizes them, or hire a professional photomanager. Some charge anywhere from $50 to $150 per hour. Some charge by the photo, from $0.17 to $1 per photo.

Durgin offers a free webinar on how to sort and digitize photos, a free handout, and free "Ask me Anything" sessions.