Orinda Prints & Archiving: Local, Personalized Photo Services

    Life in Orinda just got a whole lot better! Anyone who knows and loves Oakland-based Montclair Photos – the East Bay’s oldest photo lab – will be thrilled to know that its owner, Paul Sorich, has recently opened a second outlet.
    While Orinda Prints & Archiving, located in Village Square, offers regular photo printing, the store will be specializing in digitizing printed photos and film, movie reels, video tapes, audio, documents and, for the remainder of 2024, holiday cards and calendars. At this time of year, Sorich and his crew work way into the night to ensure that these get printed within 24 hours.
    Sorich, a Lamorinda local, was born just three months after his parents moved from Croatia to the Bay Area in the early 1970s. As a high school student, he worked in the photo lab at Longs Drugs, where he discovered a passion for making other people’s memories tangible.
    Over the last four decades Sorich has grown with the photo industry through all its different phases, from analog to digital and everything in between. The latest change he’s witnessing is the resurgence of the Single-lens reflex (SLR) camera.
    “All the kids,” he said, “are getting into film.”
    Which means that the old SLR cameras you used to pick up at garage sales for $5 now have to be tracked down on eBay. Personally, he likes film, likes handling negatives, and uses an SLR camera almost exclusively.
    When asked about the difference between an online printing service or trusted local store, Sorich is unhesitating in his answer. He talks about his highly experienced technicians – “the original rock stars of analog and digital photography services” – who all give exceptional personalized service when it comes to preserving their customers’ unique memories.
    “We don’t batch process,” he said. “Each slide, negative and photo is scanned individually with the latest technology in scanners, movie reel capturing and video transfer equipment.”
    Since the advent of digital photography, we have all stuffed our computers and smartphones with photos and videos by the hundreds, and are happy to zip through them, showing off grandchildren and overseas vacations. But far too few of us ever get around to backing these up.
    Orinda Prints & Archiving is in the business of giving us peace of mind by keeping those irreplaceable memories safe.
    “We’re all increasingly aware of the possibility of fire these days,” Sorich said, “but you’re not going to be running through your house at the last moment collecting all your photo albums and homemade video tapes.”
    Not to mention photos of all those items your insurance company might ask for.
    Far easier, he said, is just to grab a flash drive with your life’s memories on it and run. But he warns that USB flash drives and camera memory cards are not for long-term storage, as they need to be “energized” every few years – i.e. plugging them into a computer to recharge their memory. Better by far is to use a digitizing service like Orinda Prints & Archiving, then download those precious digital copies onto not only your own computer, but also those of your friends and family.
    “Over the past 20 years, I’ve seen online storage places disappear, so I don’t trust them for long-term storage. Technology changes very fast these days,” said Sorich.
    According to Andy Warhol, “the best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.” To help friends and families maintain those final memories, Orinda Prints & Archiving produces programs, prayer cards and photo poster boards with same or next-day turnaround for funeral services. While most people design their own memorial items, Sorich also offers in-house design.
    With Sorich’s 40 years of experience, and immediate access to the newest state-of-the-art equipment, one might expect every wall and flat surface in his own home to be knee-deep in photos. But there are none.
    Not even one?
    Well, yes, he admits, just one. Over his sofa hangs a photo of a Croatian beach – and it measures 6’ tall by 14’ wide.