CNN PRODUCER NOTE     Limor Garfinkle lives in Staten Island and works as an art director for an advertising agency in New York City. She is also a photographer specializing in portraits of children and families. On November 4, she was walking around the hard-hit section of South Beach, where she saw many family albums covered in mud and corroded by sea water. 'I figured a lot of people lost all their pictures, so I was walking around just offering people free sessions ... finally I met that woman. She was in shock. I just said to her, "Give me everything."'

Garfinkle took thousands of photos and important personal documents -- including the woman's citizenship records and her father's medals of honor from the Russian army -- back to her apartment and spent hours washing them.

She says people who have lost all their pictures in the storm are welcome to contact her through her website www.4mothersphoto.com for a free family session. Any other photographers or studios who are interested in helping out may contact her as well and she will connect them with the families.

'It doesn't take that much time; you take a few pictures and now they can start their memories again.'

Click through the iReport to see the whole story, including three time-lapse videos of the photographer washing and drying the photos.

Read more about Limor and others who helped Sandy victims in unexpected ways.
- dsashin, CNN iReport producer