Digitizing 60 Years of Family Photos - Share the Memories!

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the process of digitizing family photo slides that span over sixty years. Participants share their experiences, thoughts on the quality of old photographs, and the emotional significance of preserving family memories through digitization. The conversation includes personal anecdotes and reflections on the aesthetics of old cars and photographs.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses excitement about digitizing family slides and plans to surprise their parents with a digital photo frame containing all the images.
  • Another participant appreciates the aesthetic of old cars, contrasting them with modern vehicles.
  • Several participants comment on the quality of old photographs, with some noting that the slides have held up well over time.
  • There is a discussion about the age of specific photos, with some participants attempting to identify the time period of the images shared.
  • One participant shares a personal family photo and describes the context in which it was taken, while another inquires about the outcome of a humorous family story related to Thanksgiving.
  • Participants reflect on the nostalgic value of old photographs and the importance of preserving them, with some considering digitization of their own family photos.
  • There is a mention of the technical aspects of scanning slides, with one participant sharing their experience of using a service for digitization rather than purchasing a scanner.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the value of digitizing old family photos and the emotional significance of these memories. However, there are varying opinions on the aesthetics of old cars and photographs, as well as differing experiences with the digitization process.

Contextual Notes

Some participants note that the condition of slides can vary significantly, affecting the quality of digitization. There are also references to the historical context of the photographs, which may influence their interpretation.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in family history, photography, digitization techniques, and those looking to preserve memories through modern technology may find this discussion relevant.

Ivan Seeking
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I am currently digitizing sixty years of family photo slides [I should say over thirty years worth going back over sixty years]. What a treat! My parents really have no idea what is going on. I plan to give them digitized copies in a digital photo frame with all sixty years included! What I'm not going to tell them is how long it will take to cycle through all of the photos. :biggrin: I wonder how long they will last upon the first viewing. They really have no concept of memory capacity these days, so it should come as quite a surprise to see all of those slides on that tiny little SD chip.

One that I thought worth shaing was this picture of my mom and dad's car when I was just a little seeker. Isn't that about the ugliest car you have ever seen?! :smile:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/3143/459431r1055.jpg
 
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I kinda like the way old cars look. New cars all seem to look so much alike, they're sort of boring.
 


It's not often you see such an old photo with such high quality. Is that the seventies? Or earlier?
 


tchitt said:
It's not often you see such an old photo with such high quality. Is that the seventies? Or earlier?

That is from 1959! Yes, after all of these years, the slides have held up exrememly well. I have some scenic shots that look like they could have been taken yesterday. For example:
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/7179/459431r12626.jpg

But, I was hoping that other members may have some family photos to share.
 
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Ivan Seeking said:
That is from 1959!



Unbelievable.

I mean photo quality :wink:
 


Borek said:
Unbelievable.

I mean photo quality :wink:

Indeed! You can imagine how pleased I was with the results. Mom and dad are going to freak when they see this.

Btw, dad took all of these using a camera that he bought in Japan during the US occupation.
 
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735e.jpg


My Father in the 1960's when my Granny told him to catch the turkey, for Thanksgiving the next day.
 


hypatia said:
735e.jpg


My Father in the 1960's when my Granny told him to catch the turkey, for Thanksgiving the next day.

Did he catch it?
 


http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/3019/familyxud.jpg

A (poor quality) picture (from left to right) of one of my sisters, one of my brothers, and me taken in the 60s from the side of the gravel road on which we lived. The picture was probably taken by my oldest brother using an old Brownie,

http://www.brownie-camera.com/.
 
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  • #10


Ivan Seeking said:
I am currently digitizing sixty years of family photo slides [I should say over thirty years worth going back over sixty years]. What a treat! My parents really have no idea what is going on. I plan to give them digitized copies in a digital photo frame with all sixty years included! What I'm not going to tell them is how long it will take to cycle through all of the photos. :biggrin: I wonder how long they will last upon the first viewing. They really have no concept of memory capacity these days, so it should come as quite a surprise to see all of those slides on that tiny little SD chip.

One that I thought worth shaing was this picture of my mom and dad's car when I was just a little seeker. Isn't that about the ugliest car you have ever seen?! :smile:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/3143/459431r1055.jpg

Ivan.. you're kidding right? That car is amazing! But not as amazing as the one right behind it!

All of these pictures are great guys. Today's pictures, much like today's cars, all look the same to me. There is something that is so real about old pictures. They are so textured. I know that life looked the same as it does now (i.e., the grass was the same green and the sky the same blue)... but pictures make it seem like it was so different. Know what I mean?
 
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  • #11


mkb06.jpg


View from my window, late seventies.

Edit: hm, that's not a family photo. So here is my Dad, probably a few years earlier:

mkb04.jpg
 
  • #12


Borek said:
Unbelievable.

I mean photo quality :wink:

I think slides tend to be hirer quality.
 
  • #13


Ivan, that looks like a screen capture from Mad Men ;)

I'll join the party. My gramp doing some fieldwork,

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/7629/fieldwork.jpg
 
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  • #14


It was 1960; the world hadn't turned colour yet.

wedding2.jpg


Edited to add: So my parents got married in black and white.
 
  • #15


junglebeast said:
Ivan, that looks like a screen capture from Mad Men ;)

Heh, not at that resolution!

Just out of curiosity, can anyone name that car - make and model?
 
  • #16


GeorginaS said:
It was 1960; the world hadn't turned colour yet.

wedding2.jpg


Edited to add: So my parents got married in black and white.

I take it you were a colored child?
 
  • #17


Ivan, wouldn't that be 'coloured' child? :biggrin:
 
  • #18


GeorginaS said:
It was 1960; the world hadn't turned colour yet.

wedding2.jpg


Edited to add: So my parents got married in black and white.

Wow, how cool is that...your father had Harry Potter glasses! :biggrin:
 
  • #19


Tsu said:
Ivan, wouldn't that be 'coloured' child? :biggrin:

See? Tsu is paying attention. :biggrin:

Moonbear said:
Wow, how cool is that...your father had Harry Potter glasses! :biggrin:

Harry Potter didn't have a spiffy brush cut to go with his glasses, though. :wink:
 
  • #20


Saladsamurai said:
Ivan.. you're kidding right? That car is amazing! But not as amazing as the one right behind it!

Yep that was back in the day when a person could recognise the make of a car by just seeing a tail light or fender.

I love the great pics that can be made from old slides.
 
  • #22


Moonbear said:
Wow, how cool is that...your father had Harry Potter glasses! :biggrin:

Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that Harry Potter has GeorginaS' father glasses? Harry Potter ripped them off! You might be looking at a big pay day.
 
  • #23
The slides preserve the images incredibly well, don't they Ivan?

You decided to change the thread name? I realized I wasn't being very phunny with my photo.

Your project is a great idea. I sent my parents one of those digital picture frames for Christmas along with a compilation of scanned photos on a memory stick. My father even figured out how it worked without asking me. It's handy for them too because they don't have a computer so they can review their camera images off of its memory card on a larger screen than the one on the camera.

Family albums and photos are the best. Now you've got me thinking that I ought to digitise more of mine. I have some truly oldie goldies of great grandparents as children that are beginning to crumble. Digitise and even re-printing is probably a good plan.

But! I'll bet your folks will be thrilled with your efforts.
 
  • #24
Double post. Gack! The forum's phunny this morning. My apologies.
 
  • #26
Lol. I have to buy scanner and do the same one day, trick is - many of the slides I have here were not kept in the correct conditions and they are terribly dusted

Ivan, what scanner have you used?
 
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  • #27


Moonbear said:
Wow, how cool is that...your father had Harry Potter glasses! :biggrin:
He looks like Clark Kent.
 
  • #28
Borek said:
Lol. I have to buy scanner and do the same one day, trick is - many of the slides I have here were not kept in the correct conditions and they are terribly dusted

Ivan, what scanner have you used?

Heh, I took them to Walmart to be scanned. :biggrin: They have 6 MP scanner. The cost of having them do it was about the same as buying a scanner... actually, it was a little cheaper doing it this way. Since we don't have any more slides to do, and rather than spending the time scanning them myself, it made sense to take them in. For me the work was in carefully removing each slide from its metal frame [seen in the photo] with a little screwdriver; organizing by events or dates; orienting for lanscape or portrait; flipping those that were mirror imaged; adjusting for color and brightness if needed. Interestingly, the slides from 1979, for example, didn't hold up nearly as well as those from 1959! Many needed color correction.

They could have been done more cheaply by sending them away but I didn't want to let them get out of my control. So a batch of 200-300 was taken in each morning, and each evening I collected what had been done and what wasn't done.

I must say that this was the first time I was ever happy with WalMart. They did a great job. It was funny too because the people who worked on them kept telling me how fun it was. Apparently they got a charge out of watching our family grow and age over the years.
 
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  • #29
Just don't make the mistake of using CD's ad your new storage medium :wink:
 
  • #30
junglebeast said:
Just don't make the mistake of using CD's ad your new storage medium :wink:

I thought about that. Multiple backups were saved on hard drives as well as in flash memory. The photo display uses an SD chip. My dad is going to be blown away that all his [and my] years of photography is contained in that little chip. :biggrin:

Does anyone happen to know how long flash memory is supposed to be reliable? I assume the answer is "decades".
 
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