Something unexpected happened as I scanned my family photos

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

As some here may be aware, I've been working on a family project. I discovered I was in possession of my mother's old post-WWII snapshot albums, and they needed rescuing so I removed the photos from the disintegrating backing paper and began scanning them into my computer.

I was able to work through the weekend at it, and in the end I converted well over a hundred photos. And while I was doing that I suddenly realized I wasn't just working, but LOOKING. I was seeing the details of a time fifty and more years gone, but they were coming alive in front of me all over again.

I watched my young mother having fun with her friends, all of them laughing and having a good time. I saw my young father madly in love with her and neither of them afraid to show it for the camera.

I saw the youth of my big brother- it somewhat startled me to see him as a young child. He's the one who used to take me to the wrestling matches as a kid! He took me to the swimming hole and tried to teach me how to swim (I never did learn)! He was my hero and my best friend, and he died years too soon. But there he was in front of me, sitting in his high chair celebrating a birthday with a delicious cake.

Strangers. Friends. Relatives. Far away places. MY FAMILY DID STUFF AND WENT PLACES. They had a whole life before I was born, and there it was just waiting for me to live over with them.

I hope you all have family albums. I hope you have photos of all your relatives and all your vacations. I hope you snap a new shot of your young children every single day- because if you don't do it now you NEVER will. And it'll all be lost in the mist of time, and nobody will ever see the things you've done.

A Young Wife



A Young Husband



A Young Family



Two Sisters



Fishing



The End

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear Prisoner_Number_Six....

You have discovered the treasure of memory...

What a wonderful realization!

These are great photos...

Everything you've said here is so damn true...

I have so many albums that I'm sure my daughters will despair as to what to do with them once I'm gone!

Blessings on you for your work...

:hug:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

2. When I'm done I'm going to create a slide show DVD

and give copies of it to every member of the remaining family. I don't know if they'll appreciate it or not but such is life. It's something I need to finish now that I've started it.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. What an excellent idea!

I know if anyone in my family did what you're doing, I would be most grateful!

:hug:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

4. I'm attempting to offer it as a service by my company

I've had one client already- he gave me 75 photos to scan. He was very delighted with the final DVD- he's going to give a copy of it to his brother.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. What can I say?

You are one clever guy!

To incorporate this into your business is pure genius!

:woohoo:

[Skittles]

6. BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS ARE AWESOME!

:D

[KatyMan]

7. I built a family website

years ago. Like you, I found that I had all of our family 'archive' of pictures, and to be honest I had no idea who most of the people were. So I built a website and scanned the pictures in, and when you clicked on a pic, there was a form you could fill out/add to/edit saying who it was, where it was, what the occasion was. I come from a big family, 8 brothers and sisters, and my mom had something like 12 brothers and sisters, so there are a LOT of people in these pics. It went well for awhile, but people seemed to lose interest, and I'm sad to say I've lost the whole site--we changed banks, and I forgot to update the credit card details with my web hosting company, so the canceled my account, and there went the site. It was fun though, when people were actively participating in it.

Good luck with your DVD, you're likely creating an heirloom that will go places...!