4° F. It has been above freezing all weekend and we even celebrated another family birthday. My grandson, Gavin, had his 18th birthday yesterday! That is a special birthday for most. I can even remember looking forward to my 18th birthday. We had a wonderful meal in a nice restaurant on the Plaza in downtown Kansas City. Afterwards, we went back to my son's house for more family time and gift opening. It is so hard for me to believe my youngest grandchild is now 18 years old! It seems like he was just born a few weeks ago. I don't know how anyone else feels but I think grandchildren grow up twice as fast as your own children.
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| My Grandson Gavin |
We have had a fairly relaxing day today. I am getting ready to start another scanning project. It is a goal of mine to scan all of my family's printed photos. I have a huge quantity of photos considering that we did not start taking digital photographs until around 2000. Add to that the fact that our family has always taken a lot of photos going all the way back to the early 1900's and even a few from the late 1800's. To complicate matters more, I also hope to write names and dates on pictures that are not identified. Last year I scanned about ten years worth of photos from when my boys were young. At some point I need to pick up from there but that is not what I'll be doing this time. I want to get all the really old photos scanned. Has anyone else taken on the project of scanning family photos? If so, I could sure use any tips you may have!
Have a great week!
I did all that scanning, Bonnie. I bought a good scanner to do it, and the scanner even made positives from negatives. I did it all, and I won't bother you with the tedium of the last. The only advice I would give, is go back to touch up all the scratches and imperfections you find in your originals and negatives. Doing it "later" may never happen. And put your work on several memory sicks, appropriately boxed up and passed out. Those grands may not want to be burdened now, but they'll be grateful in future.
ReplyDeleteThank you Joanne for your excellent advice. It is good to know someone else that has taken on the scanning challenge. It is time consuming but I think worth it. You are right about getting the touch ups and repairs done right away. It is difficult to go back. I am keeping multiple copies on external hard drives and plan to burn the pictures on DVDs when I have more completed. Thanks Joanne.
DeleteGavin is such a cutie! I agree, grandchildren do grow up much faster than our children do. I can't believe my youngest grandchild is 21. The days go by too fast.
ReplyDeleteThanks Henny. Our grands are so special but I swear if you look away for a minute they are all grown up!
DeleteHappy Birthday, Gavin!
ReplyDeleteI have not taken on a project like that but maybe I should.
Rose you take such beautiful photos and I bet you do have many on your computer. I try to organize my digital photos by year into folders and then do a bit more organizing by folders within each year based on occasions, etc. If yours are organized by date then a big part of the work is done.
DeleteThanks for the birthday wishes for Gavin! I can't believe how fast these kids grow up.
Rose I saw the second part of your comment and when I went to answer it the comment disappeared! I must have done something wrong - sorry!
DeleteYour youngest grandson is now a fine young man!
ReplyDeleteI have no children, but I observe how incredibly quickly they grow up when it comes to neighbours', friends' and relatives' children. For instance, when I first saw one of my nieces, she was 2 weeks old. Last September she has started university!
All the best for your scanning project, you got some good advice there. The only advice I can give (applicable to almost any kind of project) is: go forward as systematically and orderly as you can. Sorting things beforehand, making sure you scan and store into a sensible structure (years? family surnames? crucial events?); it may take some time before, but will save a lot of time afterwards.
Thank you for your good advice! I tend to be a little detail oriented when I take on something like this and I agree completely with your advice to get things well organized before scanning. I hope you are having a nice week.
DeleteI'm probably in the minority in the world, but I'd rather print photos from digital files than scan hard copies into digital form! I just don't trust the technology to last, and that means re-recording them regularly as technology changes. Maybe technology is finished advancing, but I somehow doubt it. Good luck with your project. Isn't it nice to go back through all those pictures?
ReplyDeleteYou're right about how fast grandchildren grow up! Best wishes to your grandson on his 18th birthday. You're right, that is a big milestone for most young people. Or nineteen - that was the big one here, mostly because 19 is the legal drinking age and by that time we were all out of school (and in many cases in university) and anxious to visit the pubs legally - haha
I understand what you say about digital photos and I would rather print than scan if I had the choice. I want to be able to share these with multiple people plus save them in a format that does not take up a lot of actual space. It is concerning knowing how quickly things change with technology and storage mediums. Once scanned, I will be saving these in at least two different formats.
DeleteThe legal drinking age is a big milestone for most kids. When I was young I moved from a state that had a drinking age of 18 just before I turned 18 and then at 21 I moved to another state that had a drinking age of 18! So I feel like I missed out on all the fun of "reaching the drinking age"! That was a long time ago and now I believe the age is 21 in all U.S. states.
I have not done this yet but will be doing it soon. I also have to have old VHS movies transfer to digital.
ReplyDeleteI have been using a service to slowly get my VHS movies transferred to digital. If you shop around you can find reasonable rates and I just have four or five done at a time. It takes time but is affordable doing it like this. I also used a service to transfer slides to digital because I'm not crazy about scanning those myself. However, I have so many printed photos that it is better I do that part myself!
DeleteHandsome guy! I totally agree that grandkids seem to grow up twice as fast.
ReplyDeleteYou are ambitious to scan all the photos--wow! That is a huge project. But a good one. :)
It just seems like yesterday that my two grandchildren were the age of yours and now they are grown! It is a job to scan the photos but it is important to me. I will spend a chunk of time on it and get a few years worth done and then take a break and work on something else.
Deleteooo scanning photos is quite a project. I had plans to do that quite some time ago. But like most things, it kind of fell by the wayside.
ReplyDeleteTurning 18 used to be a bigger deal when the drinking age was 18, but now that it's 21, turning 18 isn't much anymore.
The scanning project is a big one but I have been doing it on and off over several years so I don't burn out.
DeleteI remember when the drinking age was 18 in some states. I think it is 21 everywhere in the US now. My grandson was still excited to turn 18 and feel a bit more of an "adult". I think he will be even more excited when he graduates this spring.
Yes I scan photos it is a time consuming project! Good Luck! I have a Grandson that is 18 also...yes they grow up so fast! Happy Birthday to Gavin!
ReplyDeleteI know you handle many antique photos and have much experience with them. I would love to see how you organize and store them. I thought we had grandsons the same age. Thanks for your good wishes!
DeleteGavin looks like a pop star! Perhaps he will write a bestselling song about his grandmother. As for scanning tips, I have two:-
ReplyDelete1) Give yourself plenty of time
2) Be very patient
Good tips. Time is the reason I never started any scanning project until I retired. It does take patience for sure.
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