About
Hello, I'm Bobby.
Verde Valley Photo Preservation is one person: me, Bobby McKinley, working out of my home in Cottonwood. When you hand your photographs over, I'm the one who handles them — there's no counter staff, no courier and no processing plant.
It started with my own boxes. I had photographs I'd been meaning to do something about for years, and when I started asking around, so did everyone else — my family, my friends, people I've known for decades. All of us with the same shoebox in the same closet.
The only real option was to pack up the only copies you have, mail them across the country, and hope. I couldn't bring myself to do it. These are some of the most important things I own. Time gets away from you either way, and a photograph is one of the few things that holds any of it still.
So I started doing it here instead. You hand your photographs to someone you can actually meet, they never leave the valley, and you get them back in a few days.
This is what I do full-time. If you call during the day, you'll get me.
Where your photos go
To a table in Cottonwood. That's it.
Your photographs come to my home studio here in town. They stay on one work surface, they get scanned, they get checked, and they go back in the container they arrived in. They are not shipped anywhere, they are not passed to anybody else, and they are not left in a pile with somebody else's.
If you'd rather see the setup before you hand anything over, ask. I'm happy to show you.
How I work
The part that matters.
- I count first, then quote. You'll have the exact price before I scan a single photo, and if the count comes out higher than we expected, I call you rather than just charging more.
- Order is preserved. Albums go back as albums. A box that was in a particular order comes back in that order. Nothing is trimmed, cut or written on.
- Nothing is thrown away. Not a duplicate, not a blurry one, not the ones with a thumb over the lens. If it's in the box, it comes back.
- Your files are yours. I hand over the drive and, once you've confirmed everything's there, I delete my working copies. Nothing is uploaded anywhere or kept on a cloud service.
- You see the price before you pay. I count your photos and tell you the exact figure first. You pay that by cash or Zelle, and then I start work.
Service area
Where I collect and drop off.
Pickup and return is $7.50 each way anywhere in the Verde Valley, or you're welcome to drop your photographs off with me in Cottonwood at no charge.
- Cottonwood
- Clarkdale
- Jerome
- Sedona
- Village of Oak Creek
- Camp Verde
- Cornville
- Rimrock
- Verde Village
Somewhere nearby that isn't on the list? Ask me — if it's a reasonable drive, I'll come.
Contact
Get in touch.
The quickest way to reach me is the phone. Call or text (928) 499‑9489 any time between 7am and 5pm and you'll get me, not a machine.
If it's easier, fill in the form and I'll come back to you within one working day. You don't need to know how many photos you have.
You can also email [email protected], or find me on Facebook.
Message sent
Thank you — I've got it.
I'll get back to you within one working day, usually the same day if you sent it between 7am and 5pm.
I'll reply with a price based on roughly how many photos you have. If you weren't sure, I'll ask a couple of questions to narrow it down. Nothing starts until you've heard the real number from me.
If it's urgent, call or text me on (928) 499‑9489.