PhotoWise Calgary

Category: Calgary Photo Organizing

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

  • Cherishing The Memory Of Loved Ones You’ve Lost

    Cherishing The Memory Of Loved Ones You’ve Lost

    Throughout my life, I have cherished my cameras…

    I’d be willing to say that the camera is one of – if not the greatest – technological invention. Upon its creation, the camera began capturing our life moments, allowing us to hold on to our memories and learn about our ancestors in ways we never could before. They say “a picture is worth a thousand words” and that “the camera never lies” (Photoshop however….. 😉 ). These aren’t just whimsical idioms. They are true statements.

    In fact, I think it’s safe to say that they may even be understatements. Pictures, I’d submit, are worth a lot more than a thousand words. They preserve memories that enable us to recall stories and time periods of our lives that can last for hours. This is especially true when those stories are about our lost loved ones.

    Nothing feels worse that coping with the loss of a loved one.

    Although each and every one of us is guaranteed a life that will end at some point, this in itself does not lessen the pain. It hurts. We miss our grandparents, parents, friends, pets, and the many other relationships that effectively end when those individuals pass away. Naturally, we’ll always miss them and recall the happier times when they were here.

    However, it’s the pictures that contain their images that help us to truly hold on to their memories. Yes, they can initiate a bout with tears. But what would we do without those pictures? I truly cherish the photographs I’ve taken of the people and pets I’ve lost in my life. The pictures mean so much to me, as they represent various times in my life when I experienced such joy with the people I loved. Those moments are important. They deserve to be cherished forever.

    Cherish the memories of your lost loved ones with a professional photo book

    I feel that there’s no better way to cherish the memories of our lost loved ones than to construct Photo Books with their pictures.

    You may be wondering what makes a Photo Book any different than a photo album.  Let me begin by mentioning that a Photo Book can be compared to a coffee table book in that its pages are made up of the photographs themselves. They are high-quality, high-resolution printed pages of your photos that otherwise would experience a lot of wear and tear and other forms of deterioration throughout the years.  As opposed to heavy photo albums, people quite enjoy picking up a photobook and reminiscing over the photographs as they flip through the beautiful pages one by one.

    Photo albums don’t exactly help to prevent such deterioration.  In fact, in many cases, photo albums add to the diminishing quality of old photographs. When kept in dark and dusty places like closets and humid basements and garages, the pictures can endure degradation due to the environmental elements. Not to mention, when the photographs are handled, everything from finger smudges to the adhesive or plastic used in the photo albums can reduce their quality and increase the speed of their deterioration.

    Professional Photo Books help to preserve the quality of your precious photos for the long haul. Not to mention, they can be uniquely designed with text to tell a special version of your lost loved one’s life story. Photos are often arranged chronologically, but you always have the option of telling the story that you think best suits the person you’re commemorating.

    Please don’t hesitate to contact me today so that we can get started on a professional PhotoBook that perfectly preserves your cherished memories!

  • 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!

  • Dear Empty Nesters, I Can Help You Downsize!

    Dear Empty Nesters, I Can Help You Downsize!

    Dear Empty Nesters, I Can Help You Downsize!

    Welcome to June! It’s a wondrous month for most kids, because it represents the last month of school. For so many parents, however, it’s a time of year when they fear how crazy their homes are about to get with the kids being in them more often. Needless to say, most parents have their hands full during the summertime. That is, of course, parents of school-aged children.

    Empty nesters have the complete opposite dilemma. Their kids are all grown up and have moved out of the house, leaving them to resume lives as couples. For many parents of adult children, the transition to living without kids is a tough one. Their homes were designed to house a much larger grouping of individuals than just the two of them alone. So what to do? Many, as you are likely aware, choose to downsize.

    What makes downsizing so difficult for empty nesters?

    Most people find that they have homes full of no-longer-needed items. In other words, clutter becomes a major issue. Clearing the clutter, therefore, becomes an intimidating task. Hans Wydler and Steve Wydler lead the Wydler Brothers real estate team in Washington, D.C. They are practically experts in the field of helping empty nesters de-clutter during their downsizing processes.Close up portrait of middle aged couple over white background

    “The first three things we tell empty-nesters to do to get their home ready for market is to de-clutter, de-clutter, de-clutter,” they share in The Washington Post, “It’s amazing how many things one can accumulate over a lifetime. As we age, we also tend to hold onto things as they connect us with our past. We know first-hand. We lost our dad almost 20 years ago, and to this day, our mom still refuses to throw out any of his belongings.”

    What can help empty nesters let go of their belongings?

    A couple of months ago, I highlighted the importance of photo preservation in the PhotoWise Blog. In doing so, I pointed out that capturing images of our prized possessions is often a great (and even therapeutic) way to hold on to your cherished items. In fact, the photos can often serve as replacements of the items themselves.

    Interior designer, Kathia Emery agrees with this practice and lists it as an excellent method of overcoming the “emotional power our belongings have over us”.  As reported by Bridget A. Otto on OregonLive.com, Emery has advised many of her clients to “take photos of the things they can’t take with them — the things they might feel guilty about letting go, such as their grandfather’s chair or a family piano.”

    How can PhotoWise help empty nesters to downsize?

    One of the ways we’ve been able to help with downsizing is through our in-home Photo Organizing service.  I am happy to help you gather your photos from all of the albums, boxes, frames and nooks and crannies around your home and sort them into a nice organized and compact system.  From there we often scan these photos so that the whole family can enjoy them.

    Another option we offer to empty nesters downsizing is to create special photobooks with such titles as “Our Family Home”. In them we showcase photos that capture the various pieces of memorabilia, furniture and other belongings that used to reside in their older, much larger homes.  I had one client who took photos of each of his kid’s rooms – untouched – before they renovated so that there would always be photographic proof of how each room was personally decorated by each child before they left home.

    Dear empty nesters, let’s preserve those family keepsakes together!  Contact me today to learn more about how I can help you to downsize!

  • Why Is Photo Preservation So Important?

    Why Is Photo Preservation So Important?

    Why Is Photo Preservation So Important?

    How good are our memories, really? Yes, we can recall many different occasions that we’ve enjoyed throughout the years. As a result, we often tell stories as fun as the time Dad caught that huge fish at the lake or as heart-warming as the moment we fell in love with our significant others. Each time we tell these stories, however, they’re told in a slightly different way. That’s because our memories are only so good. As my mother always says “I have a good memory – but it’s short!”

    I’m such a big advocate for taking photos because there is no clearer way to recall the past than to capture it through images. I’ve long believed in the power of the camera, and, as a result, I spent a great deal of my childhood ensuring that I never left home without mine. I believe that preserving memories is an incredibly important facet of life and this is why preserving my photos – and helping others to do the same – is so important to me.person sorting photos on a table

    It helps you to hold on to precious memories.

    There are so many cherished moments in life that are remembered best because someone was there with a camera to capture the joy. Sometimes the mental images and memories of things in the past can become faded or mixed up in our minds. But, as the old saying goes, “the camera never lies”. Pictures can help you to recall special memories with pinpoint accuracy.

    Gretchen Rubin of The Huffington Post believes that photographs can act as a diary. “I’m always trying to figure out ways to keep hold of memories,” she writes, “My one-sentence journal, for instance. I try to use photographs to record the little moments that are so precious but also so easily forgotten. One thing I wish I could tell my younger self: take photos of everyday life, not special occasions; later, that’s what will be interesting to you.”

    It helps you to remember and relive cherished moments in time.

    We’re all guilty of holding on to certain possessions longer than necessary. Who among us didn’t have at least one of our stuffed animals still hanging around as we entered our thirties? Pictures also allow us to preserve the memories of particular items that we used to hold dear, and can often take the place of those cherished items themselves. Rubin points out that photos can often replace the things that are captured within the images.

    “After my friend’s beloved father died, she wanted to keep his enormous desk, as a memento-but she really didn’t have space for it,” she explains, “She took a photo of it, and then was able to let go of the desk. Strangely, too, a photograph of something can sometimes be more beautiful than the thing itself.”

    At PhotoWise, we’re dedicated to helping our clients preserve their photos because we know that it allows them to preserve their cherished memories. I would consider it an honour to help you organize your family photos so that they can be digitized and preserved in a way that will honour your memories for generations!