Tag: association of personal photo organizers

Nixplay has partnered with the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO) for the Save Your Photos initiative, a public service outreach campaign that teaches individuals how they can preserve life’s irreplaceable photos, videos, and documents in case of an unforeseen accident or disaster. Visit the Save Your Photos website for more information.

September is Save Your Photos Month, a time to raise awareness about the benefits of safeguarding your photos. In the spirit of this initiative, let’s focus on why you should not just safeguard your photos, but save your older, vintage photos as well.

Maybe you’re thinking, “why should I keep those photographs? I’ve not looked at them in years so they’re just collecting dust. I don’t know many of the people in them and they won’t mean anything to my children.” Or, maybe it’s simply that you’ve scanned them and have them stored in digital format.

I’m at a time in my life when I’m going through boxes of photos stored in my home and my parents’ home. I’ve found baby pictures of my dad and older pictures of family, which have brought back so many fond memories. I even found my Grandad’s little box of photos that he used to bring out every time we visited. I’ve probably seen every photo in that little cigar box over a hundred times, yet when we saw them again, they made us laugh so hard and share funny stories about him.

So, whatever your perspective, let me share with you why you may want to save those older vintage photos!

Why keep older, vintage photographs?

Nostalgia and memories

This is the main reason photos are taken—to capture and preserve memories. Maybe you need to weed through your photo collection to remove duplicates, blurry photos and bad shots, but you want to preserve those special moments in time. Your child’s birth. Birthday parties. The first day of school. Weddings. Anniversaries. Photos enable us to remember these moments much more vividly, bringing back the emotions—the laughter, the tears, the excitement.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It’s my Grandma when she was three years old. They were taking family pictures and she did not want her picture taken. She screamed and cried until she was given her mom’s pocket watch. She finally allowed her picture to be taken (although she still has a bit of a sour face).

In 1910, having your picture taken was a big deal—they had to dress up and go to a studio out of town—so they wanted to be sure to get everyone’s picture. Unfortunately, this is the only photo taken that day that survived; all the others have been lost over the years. It sure would be nice to have them now.

Personal history

Photos tell your own personal history, one that you want your children or other loved ones to know about. Every photo is part of your experience, showing the people, places, and events that have shaped your life and made you who you are. They are part of your identity.

Storytelling

Every picture tells a story. You may learn stories that you never knew. You may never know the story behind a photo, but photos can stir the imagination and you can give them new life by having your children create stories to go with them.

Signs of the times

How much fun is it to look at photos of your parents and grandparents to see how groovy they looked when they were younger? Different decades lead to different hairstyles and different fashions. Were they part of the cool kids, the nerds, or the jocks?

When you look at photos from the early 1900s, when taking pictures was more of an event, you see people in their best outfits, starched and posed.

It’s easy to forget about how things were done in the past years. Older, vintage photos capture the lifestyle of the decade. They help us imagine the past and remember how things were done. How many people in their 20s today know what a rotary phone is? How about an 8-track, cassette, or even a vinyl record?

Help a loved One remember

Do you have loved ones who suffer from memory loss? Old photos can help them remember people or special events or give them back their childhood for a period of time. Looking at these photos may spark some stories that you can capture and pass along with the photo. What a wonderful way to spend some time with an elderly loved one!

Pass on for posterity

In truth, your photo collection isn’t just for you; it’s also for future generations. Your photo collection is a way to leave your legacy, so your grandchildren and their grandchildren will know from whence they came. Photos give them a chance to connect with deceased ancestors and family history. Family pictures are storehouses of long-forgotten memories, just like that of my grandma.

I created a photobook for a friend to help honor and remember her grandparents. There were so many photos that showed what their lives were like as a young married couple and as their children grew into adults. This is one of her favorite photos—taken during her uncle’s wedding, with many family and friends she has only heard stories of and never had the chance to meet, such as her mother’s grandmother.

It captures a moment in time when her grandparents were young and vital, and her mother was just a teen. This image, as well as the other photos in the photobook, show what life was like in Great Britain during the early 1950s. It is something she can pass along to her son and his children one day.

History lives on

We don’t want history to fade away. Your ancestors may have been involved in WWII or the Holocaust or the Civil unrest of the ’60s. Your photos may document historical times that you want to share with future generations.

Don’t lose that precious history. Cherish them. Share them. Display them.

The printed photograph is meant to be shared and displayed, not to be solely scanned and stored away to pass on for posterity purposes one day. I love having tangible photos, coming up with creative and unique ways to share and display them.

Why not snuggle up with pictures of your grandparents or grandchildren or even pets on a warm fleece blanket or pillow? Create a unique wall display that shows different generations of your family. Find some fun frames to display those goofy shots that make you laugh. I love using canvas and metal to print pictures on, they make great gifts and have a unique texture and finish.

I just recently got the Nixplay Iris WiFi digital frame. I love the peach copper finish; it really dresses up my mantle. It’s fun to be able to share photos anytime, anywhere. The key is to enjoy your photos now!

What’s your favorite way to share and display your photos?

Kristy McClenagan

Kristy is the owner of Lifetime Memories. She has a passion for helping others save their memories, keep them safe, help you enjoy them today and be able to pass them along to future generations.

https://lifetime-memories.net/

4 Ways To Smartly Digitize And Organize Your Photos

By Mars Salazar

On September 6, 2018

In Photography

In this day and age, there’s simply no more reason to lose your old photos. With new technology debuting on a daily basis, future-proofing your photos has never been easier. You can also display all your images on a Nixplay Frame so you’ll always have your memories at your fingertips.

However, many people put off organizing their photos because, in the grand scheme of things, a messy photo collection seems like a trivial problem. That is, until *knock on wood* you become affected by an unforeseen disaster or accident that renders all your irreplaceable images unusable. Only then will you regret not creating backups of your photo collection sooner.

To help you start making sense of your photos, here are four things you can do to make the task easier.

1. Only keep what truly matters.

Be intentional about the images you want to store for keeps. These photos need not always mark important milestones–even images that capture everyday life can be kept, as long as they elicit certain memories or tug at your heartstrings. Screenshots, duplicate shots, photos of receipts or documents, silly selfies–you don’t have to archive these.

2. Scan old photos in batches.

A lot of families have at least a dozen albums of printed photos, most likely with no digital backup, gathering dust in a corner of their homes. Just looking at those albums and imagining the gargantuan task of scanning the images one by one can make even the most patient of people sigh in despair. Make it less of a chore by doing just two or three albums at a time. Better yet, divide the albums between the different members of your family so you can accomplish the task faster.

3. Arrange them by date.

Don’t just dump your images in one folder. Sure, it’s easy, but this makes it difficult should you need to dig up a specific photo. After scanning or uploading your photos, make it a point to immediately sort them according to the event or time period during which they were taken.

4. Get in touch with a Photo Organizer.

Photo Organizers help people curate and safeguard their photo collections so future generations can access, share, and enjoy them. Get in touch with the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO), whose members can, in addition to helping you organize and digitize your photos and videos, also help you create photo albums, restore old images, and do research about your family history, among other invaluable services.

Join Nixplay and APPO in commemorating Save Your Photos Month! Visit www.saveyourphotos.org for more information.

Mars Salazar

Marianne is Nixplay’s Web Content Editor. Her hobbies include exploring new places, playing table tennis, and cuddling puppies. Send her a message at marianne.salazar@nixplay.com.

6 Reasons To Digitize Your Photos As Soon As Possible

By Mars Salazar

On August 3, 2018

In Photography

If your family is like most, you probably have a stash of printed photos and film rolls at home. Some may be meticulously laid out in photo albums and frames, while others are stocked in boxes or kept in the envelopes from the photo store. These images serve as tender reminders of a simpler time, triggering nostalgia within seconds.

However, these photos are in danger of being left behind during the mass migration to the digital sphere. Digitizing printed photos can be tedious work, with dozens—maybe even hundreds—of images needed to be labeled, sorted and scanned. Add in the process of organizing the prints for safekeeping and the time you’ll inevitably spend reminiscing over your memories, and you’ll surely take a long time.

The good thing about this process is that there’s no deadline. There’s no real need to rush—you can take all the time in the world. But of course, the sooner you accomplish it, the more secure your photos (and their accompanying memories) will be.

This is where the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO) come in. APPO trains and supports professional Photo Organizers who can make sense of your photo collection. They can curate and safeguard your precious images so you and your loved ones can keep enjoying them in the years to come. This way, your photos, as well as the memories you’ve made through the years, won’t be an “out of sight, out of mind” situation.

If you’re still on the fence about hiring a professional Photo Organizer, here are a few reasons why you should give them a call soon.

1. Prevent your photos from deteriorating.

At the end of the day, your printed photos are flimsy and extremely susceptible to damage. The paper will turn brittle and yellow, the vibrant colors will fade, and the details will be gone. A Photo Organizer can use state-of-the-art organization and preservation methods to ensure that your precious images will stand the test of time.

2. Remember moments you might have forgotten.

Your memory won’t remain sharp forever. In fact, we bet you can’t even remember what you had for lunch two weeks ago—that’s how fleeting memories can be. What more when it comes to events that happened several years ago? Organizing and scanning your images will force you to take a deep dive into the past in order to provide the necessary documentation for your printed photographs.

3. Avoid damage from natural causes.

You never know when a major disaster like a flood, earthquake, or fire might strike. Will you have the time to fix your photo collection when more pressing matters are at stake? With an archived photo library stored in the cloud, you can still have a reminder of some of the most enjoyable times of your life even when the printed images you took back then are gone.

4. Proper organization.

Ever gone digging through your printed photo albums in search of a particular photo from a specific time? It can be such a hassle if you’ve got a lot of images to go through, especially if your albums and boxes are not labeled properly. A Photo Organizer can help you sort through all your photos so you’ll never have a problem looking for a certain picture again.

5. Easy sharing and reminiscing.

When all your printed images are archived and stored on the cloud, you can share your photos with loved ones with just a couple of clicks. Sharing your memories is even easier when you and your loved ones have Nixplay Frames—just a few taps, and you’re done!

6. Preserve your memories.

The best thing about hiring a professional Photo Organizer to fix your files? All your precious images will be safely stored online and can be easily accessed by future generations without much fuss. This way, your photos—and the memories they hold—can be kept safe forever.

Click here to find an APPO-certified Photo Organizer.