I am a 25 year old woman with two kids. While pregnant with each of those children, I have wondered, “Are my kids going to look like I did when I was a newborn?” But WAIT! I have no idea what I looked like as a newborn… Not a clue. Nada. There isn’t even a picture of me in the hospital! I know what you’re thinking… Either my parents didn’t love me, or I was a hideous baby. My parents couldn’t have been better, so that leaves one thing- I was ugly. I had to have been an embarrassment. When I asked my mom why they never thought to take a picture of me in the hospital, as is standard practice in today’s society, the story has always remained, “The camera broke.” Ouch.
While I don’t really grasp what I looked like as a child until I hit the age of two, from what I can tell I was a darn cute kid. I mean BabyGap model cute. Which again brings up the question, why can I count on one hand the amount of photos I have from the first couple years of my life? Well, I really do have an answer for you. I will sum it up in exactly five words, MY BABY BOOK GOT LOST. The record of my life. A scrapbook. My babyhood in the form of photos. As you can tell, the fact that I no longer know where my baby book is has caused me a lot of sadness in my life. I have nothing to compare my own children to as they grow up as babies. While some may find this scenario to be a little dramatic, photos are the essence of where we have been in our lives. They tell a story, as ‘a picture says a thousand words.’
Luckily, we now live in the digital age. We can carry cameras in our purses and pockets in the form of a phone. My kids will have their pictures backed up on servers and in the cloud, however there is still an entire generation of those that had photos taken of them as children that are still at risk to be sitting where I am now. They can get lost, ripped, and damaged in a fire or flood.
There is so much emphasis placed on having a proper food storage, and other emergency preparedness tactics, and I would like to add that of photographic preparedness. There is nothing worse than not being able to show your posterity the memories you hold most dearly. Fortunately, there are companies now that will convert your old film to digital, as well as companies that allow you to store your precious images and videos in the cloud.
First, gather all your photographs, negatives, slides, movie film, video tapes, whatever form your film might be in, and send them into a company that will convert them to digital. I am biased, but Larsen Digital Services does an excellent job in film conversion. They are located in the US and do all their work in house, rather than outsourcing all their work to a 3rd world country. They also offer online viewing of your images before finishing your order so you can organize your memories the way you want! Larsen Digital also offers the best value in the industry with the lowest prices and guarunteed quality.
Second, after all your memories are in digital form, BACK THEM UP! Seriously. The more ways your images are backed up the safer you are. Store them on discs, on a hard drive, on the cloud, EVERYWHERE! I’m not even joking. If you only have your images and videos on your computer, and your computer crashes… you could be out of luck and very VERY sad. Don’t risk it.
Third, ENJOY your new found freedom! You will have the ability to upload all your childhood photos to your favorite social media sites, email them to friends and family, create slideshows with the images for anniversaries, birthdays, and even funerals.
I promise you, with my personal guaruntee, that if you convert all your old film to digital, and back them up, you will never regret it, and you won’t be bitter like I still am today. You will be prepared for any scenario, and you willl have so many more opportunities to share your beautiful life.
Christa Larsen is a big huge advocate of converting your old film to digital, and specifically, of Larsen Digital Services. Visit today at www.slidescanning.com to make sure your photos and videos can truly last forever.