HOW TO DIGITIZE YOUR CHILDHOOD PHOTOS
Growing up I loved when we would gather together and pull out the slide projector. We would listen to my parents talk about their lives and my siblings and I would all fight over who gets to push the button to move to the next slide and the next story. I love that “cha chunk” sound. As technology advanced my family started to collect giant binders with sleeves for all the 4×6 prints from the many rolls of film my parents would take. In High School, I became interested in photography, got my own camera, began my own collection of binders for prints, and took monthly trips to the Walmart one-hour photo.
And all those memories were sitting in a box in my childhood home in Canada. Over the last six months, I have felt this pull to gather my box of mementos and photos and start making those memories digital. Finally, I can say the project is complete! The biggest shout-out goes to my mom, who was pretty good at writing the year on the back of the photos! That made getting them in order so much easier! Let me tell you about the process of undertaking this project, so you can know where to begin as well!
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PURCHASE A SCANNER
I used the Epson FastFoto Scanner and it was a breeze and lives up to its name, it is fast! Depending on how many prints you have purchasing a scanner might not be the most economical option. However, some local photography stores often rent equipment and this scanner might be available. If you are in Salt Lake City, you can rent it from Pictureline.
FAMILY HISTORY CENTER
All over the country, there are Family History Centers that provide access to free scanners. All you have to do is reserve a spot! If you are local you can go to the one located here in Idaho Falls or you can find one near you. The history center has a variety of scanners! Flatbeds, fastfoto scanners, book scanners, and even some for slides and negatives.
HIRE IT OUT
I recently added this service to my business! At the moment, I can only scan prints up to 8×10 inches in size using the FastFoto scanner. Once the scanning is complete you receive the files via digital download.
If you need a company that can digitize prints, negatives, and VHS tapes there are a couple of different companies you can look into.
– Legacy Box
– Dig My Pics
– The Digitize Center
HOW TO STORE YOUR PRINTS
While the giant binders are great for viewing, they are not the most compact. Luckily, The Container Store is my happy place, there are so many different options to store all the things. I use this one to hold all my childhood knick knacks, prints, yearbooks, and journals. I have one for each kid to hold the special items that they will collect as they get older as well. Other ideas and containers you could use are this, this, this, or even this!
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