Memory Forward is a local photo restoration service that turns these media collections into a usable archive through physical and digital organization, photo scanning and digital conversion, color correction and other photo restorations, video tape and film conversion, and digital archiving. On top of producing digital copies, the team can create custom photo books, displays or digital frames for clients.
Founder and CEO Laura Woolsey drew inspiration from her own childhood, having grown up helping her mother organize, archive and display family photos. She also has a background in computer science and blended the skill sets together to create Memory Forward in 2007.
Client operations specialist Tom Hensle said that many times, clients are looking to downsize, have inherited the items from family members or are simply wanting to use and store their media more effectively—tasks that can undoubtedly be overwhelming.
“A lot of our clients come to us in a place of anxiety because they’ve had a closet full of stuff that they’ve been avoiding for a couple of decades,” Hensle said. “People feel like they should be able to do things with their materials but can’t or don’t have time to.”
The process is also oftentimes emotional for clients as their old photos come back to life, said senior photo operation specialist Cassandra Dowman. With some clients, she said, their images have gone unseen for decades because they no longer have the proper tools to view them with, such as a projector for photo slides.
With the business being local to Austin and serving clients from the area almost exclusively, the Memory Forward team has the opportunity to get to know their client’s stories as they organize, restore, digitize and archive generations worth of their memories.
“There’s those big-box places where you can mail your stuff off, but they don’t do what we do,” Dowman said. “They don’t know who your grandma is. They’re just running it through a machine and then sending it back to you in whatever order they found it in, in whatever quality it comes out with. ... It’s nice to feel really proud of the work you do.”
While Woolsey has seen many changes in the 15 years she has been in the industry, the heart of her business has stayed the same.
“We’re not a shoe box scanning service,” she said. “We care. We want you to have permanent, good images.”
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 512-766-5393. www.memoryforward.com
