Then...and Now...

Growing up I remember that my dad was the only one in our family who had a camera.  He was our photographer.  That was fine.  All his photos were taken on slides.  I think people born after 1970 might not even know what slides are!  My in-laws have boxes and boxes of trays of slides and they have a pull down screen in their family room.  The screen is attached to their ceiling just in front of their fireplace.  

When I was first engaged and then married to my husband and we'd come for a visit, his parents would get out several of those boxes of slides to show me the relatives.  Most of their photos were/are of their annual summer beach vacation.  I watched my husband grow up before my eyes on slides in his parents family room.  

It used to be that photos were taken without being able to instantly see what they looked like.  The photographer had to trust their artistic abilities and hope they "captured" the mood at just the right moment.  Eyes closed, blurred pictures, off centered (or partially out of the whole photo bodies or heads) were common.  Photographers had to rely on their memories from years and times past as to what worked and what didn't.  

With the advent of the digital age, photographers have been able to be more creative: take a ton of shots and delete those that don't work!  Shoot, sounds like me!  I made the transition to a digital camera about five years ago, after I accidentally dropped my film-loaded camera in the ocean on one of those annual beach vacations!  I love my Canon PowerShot A570.  It's always handy and in my purse. 

I have noticed that since I made the change from film camera to digital, I have less photos developed.  I love having hard copies in my hands, but I just don't like having them sit around in a cardboard or plastic box - unlabeled, edges slightly rolling, forgotten and unprotected.  So, I download ever shot (heaven forbid I should delete anything...even if I've taken five shots of the same thing and four are either blurry or just plain not good) to my computer.   My computer has been nagging me lately that I have too many photos on it.  It keeps warning me that my start up disk is nearly full.  I am starting to feel a bit panicked.  I don't want to lose anything on my computer, especially my photos.  

This summer I have had two projects I wanted to complete.  The first one was that I wanted to make seat cushions for the window seats in my house.  My second project was to find a place to protect and save those photos on my computer.  

The questions I have are numerous though on how to do this or what exactly to do:  Do I burn the photos to CDs?  (I don't have a DVD burner) Do I put them on a flash drive?  Do I save them to some site...and if so, which one?  Five years of photo taking is a lot for me.  I bet I have 15,000 photos.  Did I mention I have photos on more than one computer?  Fifteen thousand, or about three thousand a year.  That is a lot.  I like to document, what can I say.  

A few weeks ago I finished my cushion seats.  I am on to my photo saving project.  I'd like to get this little mess in control because after I finish this project I hope I can actually start in on my scrap-booking.  My son will be a junior this fall.  I need to start thinking graduation showoff book in two years!  

My sister is a photographer and has her own business.  Check her out on-line:  Traditions Photography in South Bend, IN.  She tells me I should be putting my photos on CDs or DVDs.  She says I should make two copies of each - one for each kid for when they leave home.  And she says I should store one copy here at my place and the second copy at some other location...like at my in-laws, just in case.  It is great advice.  I am afraid I don't have the time, the knowledge nor the desire to do all that on my own.  Plus, my kids always seem to want the computers when I do.  I don't think I can tie them up for so long...the kids and the computers!  :)

I have decided to use the Kodak Gallery photo site.  I order my Christmas cards from there ever year and spend over the limit for free storage.  I figure I'll transfer everything there and then have them burn me a DVD or two.  It would be worth the cost for that.  Maybe if I get caught up I'll be able to learn exactly what I need to do on my own.  Until then, thank you who ever invented the first camera.   

My next summer task will have to be putting all those old slides I own on to CDs or DVDs.  It's about time my husband, and my kids, watched me grow up!