Our Story

On October 21, 2007, my wife and I were in Sedona, Arizona, on a weekend photo getaway when we got a call from a friend informing us that wildfires were burning out of control in San Diego, California, our home. A mandatory evacuation was likely, with the fires heading toward our neighborhood.

Heading back home, reality set in for my wife and me as we drove to catch the next flight to San Diego. We were 500 miles away from our home, and the largest fires in San Diego's history were heading right for our neighborhood.

PhotoBin Founder Steve Weber

What could we save?

We used the hour-long flight to make a list of the things we wanted to get out of the house if we were evacuated. It was a stressful, surreal experience flying into San Diego that day - seeing the size of the fires, the flames and all the smoke - thinking of what we would knowingly leave behind and what we would save given the opportunity.

At the top of our list knowing our kids were safe: Save all of our photos - the boxes and shelves that held our family's memories, the pictures of our parents and grandparents, all the photo albums and shoeboxes full of prints and negatives from when we grew up. We also thought of the hard drives and computers holding all of our digital pictures. We knew we could buy a new flat screen TV, but we knew we could never replace our kids' baby pictures and our family's history.

Could we get there in time?

When we landed in San Diego, we called our neighbors and learned that we were indeed being evacuated. The fire had travelled over 20 miles in the previous 24 hours and was now headed straight for our home. The words rang in my head, "Evacuation..." along with those of my neighbor..."now, Steve!"

We started the 30-minute drive to our home not knowing what we'd find. During the drive it became increasingly ominous and odd. The skies were filled with smoke, the wind was moving at 60 mph, and white ash was whipping in the air and collecting on cars like snow. After what seemed like an eternity, there was our home, standing but clearly not safe from the fire's path. My wife and I decided to divide and conquer. She went to get the kids from Grandpa's and I went to the house. My neighbor and I frantically loaded our cars with our most important things. Within 20 minutes of packing, a sheriff drove up our driveway and said we had to go..."right now." And that was it.

As we drove away, I looked at my home and wondered if we'd ever see it again. We stayed in downtown San Diego that night and, like so many other families, we watched the news through the night and into the morning knowing so many others had already lost their homes or worse. When I finally was able to fall asleep, I clearly remember thinking I may wake up and learn that our home was gone.

Rediscovering moments from a lifetime.

The most important things

We were lucky. After the fires barrelled 25 miles west toward our neighborhood, the wind changed direction within one mile of our house. Miraculously our neighborhood was spared. Many homes and neighborhoods were not. When the dust settled, more than 1500 homes in San Diego burned to the ground. I couldn't help but think how many families lost all their photos -- their family memories.

Beyond the safety of my wife and kids, I was so grateful to have our boxes of photos, photo albums, and the hard drive with four decades of our memories. They contain irreplaceable photos of my deceased grandparents, photos from our childhood, pictures of all the fun high school and college days, all the vacations, and most importantly all those printed photos of our kids first few years. (We went digital when our oldest was about five years old).

The chaos of that 24 hours woke me to a real need. Help people preserve their most important events and memories. Help people archive their photos and provide scanning services and ways for people to rediscover and share their memories with family and friends around the corner, across the country or around the world, wherever life takes them. And a few months later, PhotoBin was born.