Beyond Image Scanning Services

Digital Is Good, But A Warning To The Wise

Kudos to you for investing your money and your time into having your collection of old photos digitized! Having those irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind images stored on a memory stick or portable hard drive along with your old 8mm films, slides, and camcorder videos is the right thing to do….technically speaking.

Because you’re absolutely right that leaving all that family history media in the attic or closet or wherever it’s hiding in it’s original paper or analog format is risking it will be lost, destroyed, or forgotten. Some day some future family member will be thanking you for being so diligent in converting all those old photos, films, slides and old newspaper articles to digital images and video files. Making those things digital means they can be easily stored, copied, and shared with your family members. 

But a warning for the wise…even though converting old photos  and films to digital media is an advantage for many reasons, it doesn’t solve the oldest problem we humans continue to have: passing on our family stories. 

Who Are Those People?

The fact is that whether your descendants inherit a box of musty old paper paper print photographs or a slick modern memory stick loaded with thousands of sequentially numbered high resolution digital images, without some identification and relevant storytelling, those images will be quite meaningless. It’s so sad to stare at a beautiful restored old photo with all it’s antique charms to not know the names of those people, nor anything about their lives or the context of the photos. You don’t want your descendants to inherit digital photos of strangers, do you?

How To Pass On The Stories Along With Those Digital Photos and Films

With modern technology we now have so many awesome tools available to connect those digital images with your story so they will be educational, cherished, and inspiring! The internet has made it possible to put your rare family history photos, slides, and films in a place where you can easily share them. Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram offer fabulous ways to showcase ancestors with photos, videos, and text story. Ancestry and other genealogy websites provide often free locations to build your family tree and upload your photo and films, along with story text. 

Video Is One of The Most Consumed Media Types

Video is now one of the most consumed media types on the internet and your great grandkids will be looking for the video about their family history. Those old photos, slides, and films are the perfect fodder to assemble an interesting and inspiring video for them to watch 24/7 anywhere in the world. Videos are easy to make using verbal recollections, video interviews, even remote video interviews on platforms like Zoom and Skype. Life story family history films are the perfect vehicle to contain life stories, family history, genealogical data like family trees, profiles of ancestors, old photo collections, 8mm, Super8, and 16mm films, and important things like values, philosophies, religious beliefs, life wisdom, and personal messages and blessings.  Future generations will be searching Google looking for videos about your family, their ancestors. 

Storybooks: Old Technology Still Works Best For Bedtime Stories

Print storybooks offer a simple and non-screen way (no batteries required) to do bedtime stories with little kids, infusing them with family identity, your family’s values, and celebrating their amazing ancestors. The best storybooks are designed so you don’t have to read the whole book in one sitting and sweet, educational conversations are started with the kids. 

Do Something With Your Old Photos, Slide, and 8mm Films!

So while at Heirloom Films and Storybooks we’re happy to digitize your old photo collection for you, for the sake of the next generation of your family we’d love to help you do something with those images and videos so they can in fact be inspiring.  Ask about our life story family history films, print storybooks,  online galleries, family history websites, interactive family trees, and photo collection organization services.