PhotoWise Calgary

Category: Calgary Photo Digitization

Articles on the topic of Photo Digitizing and Photo Scanning in Calgary, Alberta from the ‘Your Memories Matter’ blog

  • The Importance of Organizing Your Digital Photos

    The Importance of Organizing Your Digital Photos

    The Importance Of Organizing Your Digital Photos

    We are truly living in a digital world, aren’t we? Every day I’m reminded about how much things have changed since I was a little kid. For example, when I needed to research information – especially for a school project – I headed over to the library to locate the appropriate books. Today, our kids can find whatever it is they need to know by pulling out their smartphones and/or tablets and doing a quick Google search.

    Yes, times have changed. But one thing has definitely stood the test of time. Photos are still very much in style and I don’t see their popularity wavering at any time. With iPhones in hand and social media platforms like Instagram all the rage, pretty much everyone is a photographer these days. What that also means is that the vast majority of us have a whole whack of digital photos stored on numerous devices.

    When it comes to photo organization, what is old is new again.

    Organizing all of those digital photos on all those devices can be just as difficult as trying to arrange old pictures that have been tucked away in shoeboxes for years. One of the main reasons for this is that digital photos usually have obscure file names that are a random mix of letters and numbers. They certainly don’t serve as ways to remember which photo is which the way a “Grandma’s 80th Birthday Celebration” file name would.

    “Downloading photos to your computer without organizing them is the digital equivalent of stuffing printed photos into shoeboxes,” agrees Barb Gonzalez on Techlicious.com, “When you want to find a particular photo, you’ll have to sift through dozens, hundreds or (if you’re like me) thousands of photos. But if you’ll spend a few minutes organizing your photos when you download them to your computer, you won’t find yourself doomed to hours trying to find them later.”

    What’s the best way to go about organizing your digital photos?

    Checking the date and time on your digital camera to ensure it is correct before taking pictures is very important. I also suggest that you go through your photos and remove the duplicates, delete outtakes and the ones you don’t really need or want to keep. It’s also very important to add proper file names and store them in an organized folder/album system so that you can find them easily when you want them. Naturally, the process can be quite time consuming and require knowledge of a variety of computer applications.

    That’s where PhotoWise comes in! Our Digital Photo Management services do for your digital photos what our Printed Photo Organization services do for your printed photos. Long story short: we organize everything for you! Even if you have multiple photos on multiple devices (as most people do), we can take care of the overwhelming process of trying to sift through and organize your seemingly countless files and folders.

    Why is it so important to organize your digital photos?

    Just as our precious printed photos can become lost or damaged, your digital photos can end up disappearing as well. So often, we accidentally delete photos from our devices because they haven’t been labelled properly. This generally happens when we change devices or upgrade our computers. As well, computers aren’t exactly the equivalents of bank safes when it comes to protecting what is most important to you.

    We all know that computers crash and usb external hard drives can become corrupt or damaged. If your computer is the only place where your digital photos are saved, you may end up losing them forever!

    Don’t let that happen. Please don’t hesitate to contact me today to find out how PhotoWise can help to organize your digital photos and preserve your precious memories forever!

  • How to Protect Your Photos from Loss, Theft or Damage

    How to Protect Your Photos from Loss, Theft or Damage

    Protecting Printed Photos From Loss, Theft Or Damage

    First and foremost, I’d like to send my warmest wishes for a speedy return to safety and comfort for everyone who has been affected by the recent hurricanes and earthquakes. I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been to have to hunker down and ride out severe storms that took lives and destroyed homes.

    I’m proud that Canada is stepping up to aid in the relief efforts. You can do your part to help by donating to the Canadian Red Cross online. It’s hard to tell, of course, how long it will take for normalcy to be restored, but I do know that the more we help, the easier the transition will be.

    The importance of saving your memories.

    Keeping safe during a natural disaster is always of paramount importance. However, I can’t help but think about how many memories storms like Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma have robbed from people. Naturally, in the midst of the many possessions we keep in our homes are our photos.  Photos, of course, capture moments in our lives that are meant to be cherished forever.  Our memories can only hold on to so much information without photos to help us recall those special times.

    Recent events serve as a reminder to digitize your photos in case of an unforeseen event that could destroy them forever. Once your photos are scanned, they can be both saved and backed up as digital files as well as reprinted. Essentially, scanning your old photos gives them renewed and longer lives – and helps protect them against being lost forever in the event of loss, theft or damage.photo albums to be scanned

    PhotoWise can help you protect your photos.

    Here at the PhotoWise studio we offer top-of-the-line photo scanning services.  Our equipment includes a variety of professional high-resolution and high-speed scanning machines and custom software applications. Each photo is checked for quality and scanned by hand. We want you to enjoy your photos for generations to come!

    Turn your old photos into canvas prints, put them in published photo books or print enlargements as gifts for your family members and friends. You have many options!

    Of course, a natural disaster isn’t particularly necessary in order for your old photos to be destroyed. In many cases, pictures that have been tucked away in shoeboxes or sticky albums for years deteriorate due to acidic environments, dust, mould and even insect infestations.  Don’t allow your precious memories to fade due to the passing of time and/or unforeseen circumstances…

    Please don’t hesitate to contact me today to find out how we can help organize, digitize and restore your family photos to bring new life to them and preserve your precious memories forever!

  • Taking Pictures To Document Your Family History

    Taking Pictures To Document Your Family History

    Taking Pictures To Document Your Family History

    Is there anything more important than family?

    When you capture images of special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, graduations and anniversaries by taking pictures, you are documenting the legacy of your family. These are moments with stories that may be talked about for generations to come, but the images that accompany those stories are sure to keep the memories fresh.

    “Family pictures are the most precious,” believes photographer, Mary McCartney on TheGuardian.com, “I have a set of prints I carry around in my wallet of my kids, my husband and my parents. I look at those rather than writing a diary: they’re very evocative and textural and emotional, and take you back to specific moments. I change them every so often, after they get worn out.”

    family with grandparentsI recently had a conversation with a colleague about his family and how an important part of his family history was captured by photos. His grandmother passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 94. He explained that he although he was happy to have had such a strong relationship with her for so many years, he was still heartbroken because of the loss of such a beloved family member.

    He went on to explain the joy he was able to experience because of the time his grandmother was given to meet and get to know his infant daughter. The “overlap of life”, as he called it, is something he will always cherish. At the time of his grandmother’s passing, his daughter was barely a year old. This short “overlap”, however, will never be forgotten.

    “I have about three or four pictures of my grandmother and my now three year-old daughter together,” he revealed, “I don’t think that I have any photos that are more important to me than these. My grandmother’s memory was fading in her final years. But every time I visited her, she would bring up my daughter, expressing how beautiful she was. My daughter now views those pictures and knows that she is looking at ‘Great-Gran’ in those pics. I look forward to many years of telling her stories about the relative she barely knew, but loved her so much.”

    I couldn’t help but ask how and where those Grandmother/Daughter photos are displayed. My colleague informed me that they are framed and on display at his parents’ home – in the very bedroom that his grandmother used to call hers. He went on to express how he would like to have copies of those photos for himself (half-jokingly accusing his parents of swiping his favourite pictures).Toddler holding great grandmas hand

    It’s hard to recall a time when I’ve been happier to help a friend. The photo and document scanning services offered by PhotoWise ensured that these cherished photos were scanned at high resolutions and preserved in ways that he and his daughter will enjoy for the rest of his life. My personal recommendation was to create a photobook that included pictures of both his grandmother and daughter and, of course, photos of the two “overlapping” relatives together.

    Today, this custom family photobook is my colleague’s favourite personal possession!

    I invite you to contact me today to find out how we can help sort, organize and digitize your family photos to document your family history!

     

     

  • Photo Deterioration: What Can Be Done?

    Photo Deterioration: What Can Be Done?

    Protecting Your Precious Photos From Deteriorating

    Sunlight. It can be a photographer’s best friend and a photograph’s worst enemy. Sensibly, photographers like having their subjects well-lit and natural sunlight helps to make for bright and beautiful pictures. However, no photographer would ever like to have his or her developed photos spend time in the sun. The same sunshine that helped to provide the perfect lighting for photos is often a culprit in the dulling and deterioration of their prints.

    How do photos deteriorate over time?

    Sunlight is far from the only enemy of your precious photographs. Photo prints, as well as negatives, are created with the use of chemical dyes that are sensitive to light, humidity and changes in temperature. The chemicals used to create the images are subject to fading, turning yellow and even cracking when the photos are placed in direct sunlight. (side note: This is why we recommend only framing copies of photos – not the originals – to hang on your household walls!)

    Dust, dirt, even natural oil residue from our fingers when handling our prized photo collections can contribute to their deterioration. Therefore, it’s important to consider the ways in which we store our photos. We often use shoeboxes, bins and non-photosafe albums to house our pictures and then store them away in the downstairs closet, garage, basement or other out-of-sight locations.  We assume that these photos are stored away safely, but the truth is that our homes don’t always provide safe havens for old photos.

    Now that the summer is here, high humidity levels can wreak havoc on photos that are piled on top of each other in your hidden shoeboxes or inside “magnetic” sticky albums. The added moisture in the air causes the prints to stick together or to the album pages and the damage can be extensive if the quality of air in the home is also poor.  Also, if any little critters are creeping around your basement and getting into the storage spaces containing your photos, you might find pictures that have deteriorated at excelled rates! (The adhesive in those old albums is delicious to some bugs and rodents.)

    What can be done to protect your one-of-a-kind photos from deteriorating over time?

    One simple option is to utilize the wonderful technology of photo digitization. By digitizing your cherished photos, you have the added benefit of being able to digitally restore them! Scanned photos offer security through safe multi-location back up and assures them of long-lasting lives.

    What are the top reasons to have your photographs digitized?

    In addition to protecting your cherished memories from becoming faded scraps of paper, digitizing your photos is a great way to preserve memories in the event that you lose your original prints. We don’t often think about the possibilities of fire, flood or divorce but these are just a few of the circumstances that can cause families to lose their one-of-a-kind photos. Digitally restoring your old photo album pictures will ensure that they are protected from fading and other damage before it’s too late!

    photo deterioration caused by stack of thick photo albumsAs well, those old “magnetic” photo albums that require you to stick photos on adhesive-laden pages don’t protect the images – they destroy them. Will you allow me to give you just one piece of advice today that will instantly make your photos safer?  Remove your photos from those sticky albums immediately. If you find they are really stuck and begin to tear when you attempt to remove them – contact me for help!

    PhotoWise offers Photo & Document Scanning to help you organize, preserve and enjoy your cherished photo collection. We happily give families the peace of mind in knowing that their fondest memories will be preserved forever and ready to share with the next generation. Contact us to find out how we can protect your precious photos from deteriorating today!

  • The Importance Of Preserving Your Children’s Artwork

    The Importance Of Preserving Your Children’s Artwork

    How to Preserve and Display Your Children’s Artwork

    In case you haven’t yet been able to tell, I’m the sentimental type. I can get misty-eyed watching romantic comedies or when someone does something thoughtful for me. That goes double when it comes to my kids! As a mother of two, I can’t tell you how many times I have had to wipe away tears of joy (“Oh my, this is so sweet…you made it for me?”) each time one of my children offered me a gift. (I’ll take the opportunity here to show you one of my favourite masterpieces my daughter made for me… bless her heart!)  daughters drawing of mother and daughter age 5

    As all parents can agree, there is no greater gift to receive from a child than one he or she created themselves. Everyday that my children came home from school with one-of-a-kind pieces of art was a special one for me. I cherished each and every one of their masterful works of art and went to great lengths to display them for all who entered my home.

    However…it didn’t take long for a problem to become apparent. There wasn’t enough wall space in my home to showcase these wonderful art pieces – and new ones kept walking in the door!

    What do parents generally do with all of their children’s art?

    Storing it all in plastic bins is a popular choice – but it doesn’t do the art much justice. (The same can be said for printed photographs, by the way…but that’s another story). Not to mention, such storage attempts will often serve to damage and decay the materials used to create the works of art. Turning your children’s work into faded, ripped and crinkled remains of once-cherished gifts is no way to honour the legacy of your young one’s efforts.

    Tiffany Doerr Guerzon of ParentMap.com hit the nail on the head by saying, “we all love the masterpieces our kids create. But if we kept it all, we’d be starring in the next season of ‘Hoarders’. Creative efforts deserve to be displayed, shared and archived, but it’s hard to keep up when your preschooler churns out multiple pieces per day.”

    What is the ideal solution for preserving the artwork created by your children?

    Appreciating our children’s artwork also increases the self esteem in our kids.  When they see a parents face light up in admiration of their work – they light up inside as well!  They feel valued and loved and an increase of self confidence! My quest to find a way to easily preserve and view my children’s drawings helped me to discover one of my most unique services. At PhotoWise, we proudly create artistic photobooks (“artbooks”, if you will…) that are complete with beautifully scanned images of your children’s precious artwork and drawings. I’ve found they are the perfect solution to the “What do I do with all of these drawings and paintings?” dilemma.

    kids art drawing with crayons

    We offer a variety of conceptual ideas for artbooks so that you may capture the history of your children’s artistic endeavours. For example, we can create artbook volumes that represent the different stages of school (ie. preschool, kindergarten, grade school) or we can split the book volumes up by age range (ie. 2-5, 5-7, 7-9). Or you could simply include the scanned images in your annual family yearbook! You certainly have options…

    At PhotoWise, we use top-of-the-line photo scanning equipment and software that offers high-speed and high-quality scanning. It enables us to professionally preserve priceless family photos, documents, certificates and children’s artwork up to 12″ x 18″. I’d be more than happy to help you sort through your favourite pieces in order to create these special artbooks that will both provide your family long-lasting enjoyment of your children’s art and save you a lot of storage space!