As our family grows and our children venture into the world beyond our doors, we find our holiday gatherings all the more special. In the coming days, we will be gathering our family together, even flying a couple in from out of state.
So much of our holiday revolves around photos – they draw us together. Through their images, we reminisce about old times – the stories shared, the lives lived, the loved ones lost and found along the way. And throughout each day that we are together, we create for new moments and capture new images – photographs of tomorrow’s memories.
The holidays are a great time to get help from your family with identifying people in your old photographs. This season, as you sip your eggnog or take a break from the traditional family Monopoly game, consider grabbing those old family picture albums, and share with your family the memories and stories that come to mind simply by browsing their pages. Open an album (or a shoebox) and you’re sure to hear someone saying, “I remember when…"
I have found that it is my great-aunts who are able to fill in the blanks when it comes to old photographs. This reminds me of a family reunion we had at Roman Nose State Park, Oklahoma, in the year 2000. I thought I had it made. I brought a scanner and laptop, a cousin provided a projector and a printer, and I had more great-aunts assembled than ever before.
We sat together, the great-aunts and me, looking through photographs one at a time. At one point, I came across an old school photo, an image of twenty or thirty children. My Great-Aunt Hyla shouted, “Stop – I remember when this was taken! That’s me in the third row!” Then she went on to name three or four more people in the photograph.
We thought we were so smart. We printed the picture out and asked her to write down the names of all the people she could remember, with a circle around each face and a line to their name. We did this for several other photographs. I wish I had had Family Photoloom back then. Because although these printouts captured the information I wanted, they were no good after I folded them up, put them in my pocket, and accidentally lost them. (arghhh!)
Family Photoloom was created just for times like these. Give it a try. Upload a few pictures of the family – even better if you are not really sure who is in them. Then take some time during your family gathering to bring up your pictures on Family Photoloom... and wait, just wait for someone to a say,“ I remember when this was taken! That’s me in the third row!”
With Family Photoloom, you are ready with the tools you need to capture this information right in the moment. Plus, you can immediately share it with others. No DVD’s to burn and mail (been there, done that too many times – perhaps another Blog topic). It feels so good to be able to share photos with your entire family; not only can they tell you who’s in the pictures, but also how they are related to each other. Help your pictures come alive by gathering your family around them, and capture some old memories while you make new ones.
Happy Holidays from Photoloom!
Photo-scanning Resources
Be sure to read our post January 5, 2009 - No More Fuzzy Faces.
A great option for scanning photographs is to use the services of a Utah-based company called Securing Memories. (Update 7/27/09: Formally know as Echo Media) They scan negatives, slides, and photos from any format. We recommend them because we have found them to be a good group of people who do their work well, and they have a great respect for the treasure that their clients entrust to them. If you use them to digitize your media, they will upload your images to your Photoloom account at no extra charge!
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