12 replies to this topic

[dosbeagles]

I have a couple of questions for all of you that have spent time transfering pictures from film and paper to your computer. I do not mean to sound judgemental or sarcastic in any way but here they are:
1. How much time did you spend transfering pictures to your computer/hard drive etc?
2. How often do you go back and look at these pictures?
3. If knowing what you do now after having had these pictures on your computer and considering how much time you spend looking at them, would you spend the time doing it again?

Thank you all for your time.

[Newt]

I have a couple of questions for all of you that have spent time transfering pictures from film and paper to your computer. I do not mean to sound judgemental or sarcastic in any way but here they are:
1. How much time did you spend transfering pictures to your computer/hard drive etc?
Who knows? It's been a while and it was spread out.
2. How often do you go back and look at these pictures?
Quite often
3. If knowing what you do now after having had these pictures on your computer and considering how much time you spend looking at them, would you spend the time doing it again?
YES

Thank you all for your time.

Going into full timing, we didn't want to waste the space on photos. A lot of photos from before we got a digital camera were scanned. The laptop crashed one time. The laptop has dual hard drives. I keep the photos on drive D. They were untouched. I keep them backed up on an external HD anyway.

Newt

[Connie B.]

1. Lots and lots and LOTS of time

2. I look at them frequently as I am rally photo coordinator for our FMCA chapter. I put rally photos up on the web and there is a link to my Picasa Web Albums site for our club rally photos. I am putting all my families photos into my computer and in Picasa. I am the family genealogist and I am getting all the photos ready to make DVDs to ensure that all photos get to my siblings and nieces. I also give seminars on genealogy as does my husband. Photos of documents and people come in handy as genealogy examples in presentations and for my personal genealogy.

3. Yes!!!!!!!! The computer and modern technology has made it easy to fix photos in photo editing software, share photos with others (relatives and friends), and expand our knowledge through visual means. I don't regret the time at all.

[sandsys]

We got lucky and hit Dave's brother-in-law just as he finished scanning a bunch of his own slides. He had a five at a time duplicator and works from home. So he put five slides in and set it to work. Later he'd swap those I've for another five. He did hundreds of our slides including family ones they wanted copies of and all Dave's slides from Viet Nam. It turned out HIS brother recognized some of my Dave's slides--they were stationed the same place in Nam but at different times. That led to a whole new level of relationship developing between them. Plus I've included some of those old family pictures in my blog. I'd still like to get more of our family photos copied but that isn't scheduled to happen anytime soon. That's why I now recommend people start this process way before they hit the road. We ran out of time.

Linda Sand

[Ran D. St. Clair]

Wile I get your point, It's not entirely about you (me) or whether we would do this stuff for ourselves. It's for your kids and grandkids to have an archive. It's also for parents and friends. Once the pictures are digital they can go into one of those nice LCD picture frames that scroll though them. You might even enjoy such a thing yourself. I have an elderly mother who is slowly going down hill. Her doctor suggested one of those picture frames as a way to help her keep in touch with her memories. If not for that, I probably would not have scanned them all myself. I guess there is always a middle ground answer where you only scan the pictures that you deem worthy.

[dosbeagles]

Thanks to everyone who has replied to my post. As I read the replies I realize that I left out two important items:
1. My wife & I have no children except for our fur babies.
2. I am an only child. My wife is one of 5 and there are plenty of people who keep the family photos on her side of the family.

I realize that this is a very individual thing and I just wanted to get some thoughts and points of view that are different from my own.

Thanks again.
Chris

[LindaH]

1. How much time did you spend transfering pictures to your computer/hard drive etc?

Days.

2. How often do you go back and look at these pictures?

Not often. But, then, I wouldn't look at them any more frequently if they were in bulky photo albums, either.

3. If knowing what you do now after having had these pictures on your computer and considering how much time you spend looking at them, would you spend the time doing it again?

YES!!! Many of my older pictures were faded, so if I'd done this years and years ago (long before I ever had a scanner), they'd be in much better condition now. Besides, the MAIN reason I scanned all of our photos into the computer (as well as all prior years' tax returns and supporting forms) was to save weight and space in the RV.

[RV]

Then give all your photos to one of the family members who will keep them and archive them. Not for you, for them. No backsies.

Me. I go back to look all the time. I doubt the kids we have will really keep them themselves. But you never know. I also like to go back and watch some of the Videos we keep and are transferring to DVD currently. However I have photos from my life and family from my Great Great Grandparents to my children and their families. I am now the oldest surviving member of my side of the family, except for one Aunt. I am about halfway through scanning them as all of mine are paper photos no slides. I even have about ten reels of 8mm movie film I need to convert to DVD also.
I have found them immensely satisfying to have and reminisce with as I get older. I took many pics and videos of things we enjoyed at the time, but I knew would pass. Sort of a time capsule and those can be hilarious. I have about five or six giant Manila envelopes with family photos sorted out according to content ready to scan. I go in fits and starts with it because it is such boring work. Except when I am in the mood. I also have a big box of junk pics, over en under exposed, people I have no idea who they are, pics of places that are duplicated several times, and so on. My junk pic box that will never get scanned, at least not by me.

[Mike & Patty]

I went one additional step and got an account with Photobucket. I am still scanning photos and other things that I want to keep but not in hard copy format. I scan the pictures, certificates, and awards we have and then upload them to Photobucket (you could use Flicker or some other site to store your pictures). I go through my pictures quite a bit, especially the travel pictures. If you like to peruse my pictures here is the link to my albums:
http://s228.photobuc...81/Bandit_23CE/

Enjoy,

Mike

[sandsys]

Photos are also helpful to have in case of dementia. They can help you stay connected to the world longer. My mother-in-law, who was in the dementia wing of a care center, would tell family stories to our niece using the photos as prompts. They both really enjoyed that.

Linda Sand

[Connie B.]

Second set of questions:

1. We don't have any children either. But we have nieces and cousins.

2. Hubby was an only child. I was one of 5. I was the only one interested in keeping pictures on my side. I just collected and put them in boxes and envelopes. Now as everyone is getting older, they want copies and how could I be so selfish. If I hadn't at least just collected them, none of my sisters or my brother would have any pictures of themselves while they were young. People change through time and as we age photos, etc are great ways to remember the past.

When my parents each died, my S&B was the collection point for everyone. Instead of sadness, we passed around pictures of our parents when they were young as well as all of us. My nieces thought it was a hoot to see their parents at the beach, with their funny haircuts and clothes, etc. It made a sad time a good time to remember our past. And yes, I even took pictures of all of us together.

Especially as I age, it's good to remember the good times in the past. And those pictures of my families' past help reaffirm that past. It keeps connections of family current. It helps the young members of my family be part of our past. It helps them remember their grandparents who are now gone.

My sister, Roberta, kept a scrapbook of pictures of immediate family when her kids were young. She would go through the book with them frequently. So when we visited her which was not often during our working days, her two daughters recognized us instantly, were not afraid of us and gave us welcoming hugs. We still have close relations with those two nieces.

As I said, I am the family genealogist. That also makes me the repository of not only family photos, but stories, letters, information. I do think it's important for someone or several someones in the family to take on that job. My dad was in WWII and a great keeper of his information and papers. One of my many family projects is to write about that period of his life as a Hump pilot in India/Burma/China. So family pictures and information can not only be important for you and your immediate family but for human history as well.

[Mariner]

We see ours all the time since I set the pictures on the computer to slide show for the background.

[dosbeagles]

Thank you all for your replies. I am going to go out and get a scanner not just for picts but as one reply said for tax records bills etc and reduce alot of paperwork clutter.

Chris