The Way We Were

Happy New Year 2009!

thewaywewereslideshows — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:27:08 +0000

The holiday period was very busy. We participated in the creation of a number of slideshows that became wonderful holiday gifts. One interesting and inventive slideshow was of a young girl’s artwork from kindergarten through the 8^th grade. We photographed some of the three dimensional pieces and those flat pieces larger than 8” x 14”, but the majority were readily scanned. The parents had done a great job of saving, preserving, and cataloging the artwork. The slideshow told a story, an impressive story reflecting a young girl’s maturation, in her artistic efforts as well as her personality.

Slides to Print Photos

thewaywewereslideshows — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:34:46 +0000

We recently completed an interesting project. The customer wanted 100 color slides converted to print photos (3 copies each) and inserted in albums—we’re guessing for Christmas gifts. The slides were created in the mid-1940s and were stored in a very nice box obviously designed for that purpose. However, the box was far from being air tight and the slides had been handled repeatedly without being cleaned. Wearing lint-less darkroom gloves, we first removed as much dust as possibly with compressed air. Then, using film cleaner we carefully cleaned both the shiny (non-emulsion) and emulsion sides of the slides. Next we scanned the slides using Digital Image Correction and Enhancement (ICE) to remove any remaining dust and scratches. Finally we added captions to each, printed the three copies, and inserted them in archival quality. We also stored the slides in archival quality slide pages and placed them in a notebook. The printed photos were amazingly clear for being more than 60 years old. The customer was very pleased.

Christmas is Coming #2

thewaywewereslideshows — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:40:41 +0000

In my last blog on this subject, I mentioned that a music-photo slideshow would be a great gift for grandparents. I should have mentioned that it would also be a wonderful gift for godparents, aunts and uncles. And, it will work as well in reverse. Grandparents and other older family members and friends often have valuable photos recording family history, even notable local, national, or world historical events that would be of interest to members of younger generations. At one time or another, we have all probably asked or wanted to ask a grandparent what it was like when ____________ . Fill in the blank. DVD photo slideshows with captions and voiceovers can preserve and tell those stories for generations into the future.

Christmas is Coming #1

thewaywewereslideshows — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:37:53 +0000

Are you searching for just the right gift for your parents or grandparents? The majority of our staff (yes, even among the techies we have grandparents), are grandparents and unanimously agree that a DVD slideshow depicting the activities and antics of their children and grandchildren would make a wonderful gift. If your parents or grandparents can’t visit often, a slideshow reviewing the year brings them closer. Include a video clip in the show of a granddaughter playing volleyball; add music that compliments the visual content; and add captions or voiceovers to the slides and we guarantee that they will treasure the gift for years and view it frequently.

A Moving Memorial

thewaywewereslideshows — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:06:00 +0000

We recently completed a memorial for a loving, loved, fun-loving young lady who died of breast cancer at the age of 53. During the process of selecting; repairing; correcting (color, light, redeye, focus); and sorting the photos then creating a DVD slideshow with music, motion and transitions, we began to feel as though we knew Linda personally. The final product consisted of two short videos and 75 photos and was approximately 7-1/2 minutes long. It was touching to prepare and even more so to review it with the client (a cousin of Linda), even though we had viewed at least 10 times previously during preparation. He was very quiet and apparently mesmerized during his initial viewing. He loved the show and his final comment was that they would need a lot of tissue at the funeral home when the slideshow was being played. To participate, even is such a small way, in the celebrating of the life of a wonderful person such as Linda is very much an honor. We hope that in some small way our efforts are instrumental in recording and perpetuating Linda’s memory and facilitating the healing process.

Why CD/DVD Slideshows?

thewaywewereslideshows — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:15:30 +0000

Probably the best and simplest answer is that CD/DVD slideshows tell a story. A group of family and friends, classmates, co-workers, conventioneers, or even a large audience of strangers can gather around a TV, computer, or projector screen and enjoy a musical or voiceover digital slideshow on a subject of mutual interest. Print photos stored in a shoe box in the back of a closet, a basement, an attic, or under a bed seldom are organized to tell a story and are difficult to share with more one or two other persons at a time.

In a previous blog I’ve addressed the value of storing photos on CD’s or DVD’s as a form of photo preservation so I’ll focus on the entertainment and other-functional value of digital slideshows in this post. Some of the more obvious uses are the recording in story form of life-changing or milestone events such as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. There are many more ideas listed on our website at http://www.thewaywewereslideshows.com/dvd_slideshows.htm, but some deserve a more in-depth look.

Schools for instance could make use of digital slideshows as a bookstore revenue source. What parent or grandparent would not want to own a slideshow that included photos of their son, daughter, grandson, or granddaughter involved in a grade, class, or school activity, event, or function. Not only could the slideshows be money-makers but they would promote school spirit, could be used as part of a reward program, could be used as a marketing tool, and certainly would give a boost to any school archival effort. Surely school plays, sporting events, graduation ceremonies, and concerts are just a few of the obvious events, but I wonder if something along the lines of a digital yearbook wouldn’t also be of value. Daily school life is often more interesting and entertaining that staged events. How would a yearbook effort be organized and executed? What are your ideas? How else could a school use or benefit from the creation of CD/DVD slideshows?

Another area with which we have experience and in which we are interested is that of DVD tributes and memorials. In the Midwest where we are the playing of a DVD honoring the life of a lost loved one at a visitation, wake, or funeral is rather new. We believe it should become common-place. A well-done memorial video can capture the uniqueness of the lost loved one and be of great comfort —both in the moment and in the years to come. Families treasure these keepsakes for generations. The following quote is from the National Funeral Directors Association website, “Funeral Service Trends” page:

“Funeral service consumers are seeking a service that is as unique as the person who died. The idea of personalization has resulted in an explosion of unique and meaningful services being held. Families want the funeral ceremony to no longer focus on death, but rather the celebration of life.

“Through personalization, funeral services can be more creative, unforgettable and meaningful. Funeral directors can offer various ideas to make the service more personalized and are very open to family suggestions and creativity. NFDA encourages all funeral service consumers to discuss their ideas with the funeral director to ensure an individualized ceremony fitting of the person who died.”

Do you agree? What is your experience? Has the DVD memorial’s time come?

How to Preserve Photographs – The Library of Congress

thewaywewereslideshows — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:06:41 +0000

The Library of Congress has an excellent page on their website that addresses how to preserve photographs. Click here to read the article. This is good advice to follow, but you may notice that the article does not address transforming photographic images to disk as a means of preserving the photographs. This is because the author is defining “photographs” rather narrowly as representations of a person or scenes in the form of prints, negatives or transparent slides. This is understandable considering the article is an aggregation of excerpts from a book published in 1992. From our perspective in the digital world, while we might continue to use the term “photographs”, we actually mean “photographic images”. Photographic images on a disk are simply digital copies of tangible print, negative or slide photographs. And as we know, placing photographic images on CD or DVD disks is the surest method of preserving photographic images for the long-term. How long? We’ll discuss this in a later blog.

How Long Will Your Photos Last?

thewaywewereslideshows — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:36:53 +0000

We all know that print photographs are volatile, but do we know how exactly how quickly they deteriorate? This site provides a free Preservation Calculator for downloading that will estimate how many years your photos will last under different environmental conditions.

The Way We Were Open For Business

thewaywewereslideshows — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:15:47 +0000

We are excited to introduce you to our new online business. After much hard work and many long hours of brochure and web design, we are ready. Please take time to look us over and be sure to visit our website for more information and slideshow/tribute examples. Your thoughts, comments, and suggestions regarding the website and any blog posts are most welcome.

From time to time this blog will discuss our services in the category “The Way We Were”, however, this blog is mostly about DVD slideshows and photo preservation and storage in general.