Posted on 08/16/2018 10:12:48 AM PDT by goodnesswins
gramps was a nazi?
ruhroh
Yeah, I have all the photos I digitized on a disc, a thumb drive and a PC hard drive. But once they are digitized, moving them the next big thing medium takes only a few minutes.
Congratulations on your 20th anniversary with FR. Thanks for “showing up” again.
Do quality scans and do your best to organize them into a “slideshow” with photos grouped logically, then chronological within the groups. Then, put the originals somewhere that they’ll be preserved and safe. Your scanned images can be uploaded to a free photo server site, likely you have this with your current internet service provider. They can also be saved to thumb drives and kept on your computer hard drive. There are free, very easy to use websites that you could utilize to set up a web page of family photos if you want. Then, as grandchildren become interested in their family history, you’ve covered all the ways these would typically be accessed at present. If something new arises, then I’m sure the JPEG standard will either work with it or convert easily to that new media or new standard.
Land sakes, son, don’t be shy. You don’t have to post to be welcome, but I’m sure a lot of other FR people have probably missed you.
(Don’t know you personally, but I remember seeing your posts in the past, and must have appreciated them enough to recognize your handle)
Anyway, as to the picture topic ... How many do you have?
I have a few boxes of pictures I got from my Mom when she passed. Sadly, the girls didn’t like me, so I don’t really have to worry about the kids/grandkids; however, I do have a cousin who does the scrapbooking thing, and I think I will send them to her at some point.
Thing is, what are those pictures? When you look at them, do they bring a feeling of connection, or is it more like (and this is going to sound cruel, but it is what it is) “dead people I don’t know”?
I have a picture of my great grandmom & pop with a freshly killed deer on the fender of their car, I bet it was tasty. If it weren’t for the fact that my (wee at the time) Mom & aunt are in the picture too, it would be meaningless to me.
Thanks to digital cameras and facebook and all that crap these days, kids (and adults) are awash in pictures and images. People go on vacation and take hundreds of pictures, and then shove them in a hole on their computer and forget about them. Or share a few on facespace and forget about them.
Can your pictures compete with that? Are you wasting your time? Am I? (Probably, I’m bloviating...)
Anyway, what I’d really suggest is picking out a dozen or two ‘favorites’, scanning those and waving them at the kids/grandkids via email/facespace, whatever. See who is interested. If they’re really interested, do more, see if they want originals.
If not, you can still scan/scrapbook/laminate them anyway, but just be aware that you’re probably only doing it for your own enjoyment.
Also, be aware that as time goes by, the kids feelings may change.
The biggest regret I have at this point is that a lot of the pictures I’ve gotten are unlabeled, and I have absolutely no idea who the people are in the pictures. Sadly, that’s how it is.
Maybe I’ll box some of mine up and send them off to the cousin this weekend. Maybe not. :P
I took pictures of all the good pictures in my photo boxes, named the file that on my computer, and send the kids digital copies. They can do what they want with them, and mom still has the originals. I also have about ten carousels of gorgeous slides of Valdez AK that are hanging around. AND the projector!
About lamination....I don’t have a laminator. Should I buy one...or have it done elsewhere?
To ALL...thanks for your suggestions. I have been doing some of all (scan, thumb drives, books). I appreciate hearing others thoughts on perpetuation of photos. I agree that REAL photos may hold value later...I even have a few tin types. Now I’m trying to decide whether some silver pieces may have belonged to a former Governor who we think also is the source (purchaser) of a 1721 issue of Magna Carta.
Yes...Slides, too....I scanned slides of Europe from my husband’s grandparents world trip in the late 40’s last year.
Could be, but ya never know what the next “big thing” might be.
Storage media likely will be compatible, but I’m thinking of all the different image-audio-video formats I’ve seen over the years. I’ve had to do my fair share of converting from one format to another!
Growing up in our house we had Edison cylinder records, my brother had to make a cylinder-record player to listen to them since there weren’t many up for sale in the electronic dept at stores, as you might imagine.
But we find ways to keep the important memorables.
Each year since 2007, my family sends their pictures to my brother. He lays them out in a calendar and then has the company make enough copies for the families for Christmas. My family has enjoyed this tradition. We have a record of each year which hangs on the wall and then gets put away in the closet for future generations.
“Someone will appreciate it. If your family is large enough one of your descendents will be bitten by the genealogy bug and will find the treasure trove you put together invaluable.”
This is true. When I was younger I was annoyed with all the “junk” my mother felt the need to pack-rat away. Then when the ancestry sites started gaining in popularity I gave it a try. (Mostly for my mother, her mother died when she was a child and was hoping to find out more on that side of the family.)
I got hooked fast and really gained appreciation for all the “junk” which had ended up being alot of pieces she accumulated from her mother’s pack-rat tendencies. I’ve slowly figured out this is a genetic trait...as I watch my own hoard grow.
Anyway, getting to the point: I am always SO thankful that any peice of my family history has been saved. I could talk for a solid hour about the gems I’ve come across and I will spare ya’ll that...but I guarantee someone will appreciate your effort!
If you are scanning photos use a system to edit the IPTC (I think) data. It allows you to date and caption every photo. It’s information embedded in the file. There is nothing worse than looking at an old photo that was important to your parents...and you don’t have a clue who they are.
Use keywords to index them. Digital Asset Management is ALL about being able to access and manage data. If you are going through this trouble, index and caption everything.
Honestly, laminating them is the worst thing to do to preserve photos.
Photos properly mounted on paper and kept out of the horrifying environments of heat sun and humidity, they will hold up for centuries. Literally.
that is nice... soon there will be virtual memories of loved ones... like in the netflix series black mirror...
Too bad we can't erase FR.
Lemmee see what I can do to repreive myself
Its one of the issues with the electronic media (flash drives now and The Cloud ...), and the optical medias have a different problem
First - one good solar flare could wipe a majority of the magnetics out.
Second - optical CD/DVD - just aging/degeneration of the media (for which the ‘near best’ has no guaranteed lifespan more than 10 years) and most not more than 3 years (and the really long lasting optical media is horribly expensive).
the general advice is to systematically KEEP MULTIPLE COPIES of it on different pieces of the media, and to recopy THOSE every 3 years into a new set of MULTIPLE COPIES (and make sure to CHECK that the copy worked).
Be careful how you store it (heat is a killer) different copies in different places ...
YES...what YOU wrote....all the different media...seems actual hard copy pictures have longest lasting value...altho having computer backups is essential (fire, flood, etc.) I’m wondering what electronics people in 2060 will be using, while hard copies will still be...hard copies...as long as kept appropriately, as you said. Re-copying every 3 years??? I hope you mean the electronic versions...transferring to a new media? To a new jump drive or CD? NOT re-copying the hard copies AGAIN....aaggghhh.
Been going over old videotapes, editing and digitalizing them into some DVD albums - expect today’s kids will be most interested in seeing their parents, aunts and uncles playing ball, swimming, and visiting Santa at the same age then as the kids are today.....
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