Who are these people....

It's so important to identify who is in your pictures. You might think you'll remember (and maybe you will) but someday it could be your child or other family member sorting through your pictures and have no idea what they should keep and what they can toss. I've been there. I remember going through a large box of my parents' photos. Most had no names which made it so difficult. It was great when they were marked because I saw baby pictures of relatives that I've only known as adults and knew if a photo should be kept or tossed. I wonder how many important pictures I threw away because I didn't know if it was important or not. When writing on the back of photos, only use a special photo marking pen or pencil available at your local scrapbook store.

How do I preserve my pictures?

The last two posts talked about the importance of getting our pictures off the computer and out of bad albums. Once they are printed you need to keep them in a way that will help them last many years.

The following information from archiversonline.com , while rather lengthy, gives a lot of good information. In a nutshell keep them in acid and lignin free boxes or albums and keep them in the main part of the house, not the basement or attic. Anything that touches or is even close to the photos should be acid and lignin free.


Keep Cool & Dry
Besides exposure to light, heat and humidity are the biggest threats to your images. Increased temperature escalates the rate of deterioration of a photo. As a general rule the life span of a photo is doubled for every 10-degree drop in storage temperature. High levels of humidity encourage the growth of microorganisms, which attack the emulsion of a photograph. Fluctuating levels of temperature and humidity can cause expansion and contraction of the emulsion and paper of your photographs, which results in cracks and flaking. A simple rule is to store your photos in the main living areas of your house. Upper floors and attics can be too warm, while basements can be too humid.


Protect & Preserve
Be sure to handle your photographs with care to prevent fingerprints, scratches, folds, ink stains and other damage. Whenever possible, wash your hands before touching a photograph. Also avoid letting your photos come in contact with items such as paper clips, rubber bands, and staples. Storing your photographs in archival boxes or photo albums and scrapbooks will also keep them safe from environmental contaminants. Air pollution, smoke, dust, and gases from paints and cleanings supplies can all cause degradation of photographs.


The Right Tools
Unfortunately, if not done properly, the very act of organizing and protecting your treasured photographs can end up accelerating the aging process. The use of inferior grade products not designed for the long-term preservation of photos can cause irreversible damage. Some albums and pages are made with plastics that emit gasses that can cause photo deterioration. Adhesives used to manufacture albums or to mount photographs can also be a problem. Any paper product near photographs should be both acid and lignin free. Pens and ink used for photo identification purposes may be acidic, and can bleed, stain or even fade away. Before purchasing photo storage supplies do your research, use only products that have been tested for image permanence. Photo albums with magnetic pages are the most detrimental to your photographs.

So Where Are Your Pictures....Part 2

Some of us may remember the old albums with the clear covers on each page. They were advertised as easy to use because you just pulled back the clear cover, stuck the picture on and then put the cover back on. These are terrible to use! Over time the pages will yellow and your pictures will stick. Depending on where you have kept your albums you could pull your pictures up when you peel back the clear page. Any of these situations will ruin your pictures.

If you have any of these albums in your house don't delay in getting your pictures out of them. If the pictures or the plastic cover stick, stop and go to your nearest scrapbook store where they should have some products that may help you save your pictures.

So Where Are Your Pictures....part 1

I started this blog showcasing some of my recent photobooks that I've been doing for M.J.B Photography. I did this because they are a hot item and the brides and grooms are really enjoying the creativeness that this format allows.


Before we can go into more of the creative ideas that can be done with your pictures we need to start at the beginning. Where are they? Are they on your camera, your computer or do you think it's all o.k. because you've burned them to a CD? The fact is that it's still best to have the actual photographs in an archival safe format.


Having them on your camera, or even the media card, is the worst place. What if you lose it, drop it or spill on it. Your pictures could be gone forever. If they are on your computer are they backed up? If not you have all the same concerns that you would if they are on your camera. You must back them up to an external drive and/or CD's.


In my opinion the best option is to have the best pictures printed and displayed or stored and then to have them backed up in an electronic format. If you do that make sure the backup is not at your house. If you have a fire or a flood you could lose the actual photographs and the computer. If the CD's or external drive are at a friends house you still have access to them.

In summary, this would be step number one. Make sure you have your pictures in 2 different places. The best idea is having them printed and backed up. If they are on your computer please make sure they are backed up. It's even better if the backups are in a different location.

There is more to discuss about this topic so stay tuned.....

Welcome

Hello, and welcome. This will be the place where I will share my thoughts on the importance of preserving your photographs and the story that they tell. There are so many ways that this can be done. I'll show different ideas along the way.

I have started a business called Memory Designs. I create photo books, custom scrapbook pages or complete books, custom invitations and more. Life is busy, we hire people to maintain our cars, clean our houses and run errands for us. Why not hire someone to preserve our memories.

One new and popular way to share your photos is through Photo Books. There are many different companies that publish these and ways it can be done. The disadvantage of these books is that they have set templates that you can use unless you have a graphics program such as photoshop. Because I create all my pages in photoshop I have the flexibility to create pages exactly like my customers want.

On the left side you will see samples of a couple of books. On the top is a wedding album. This larger sized album is perfect for showcasing your wedding photographs and includes custom design elements, favorite quotes and more.

Below this is a guest book. What a great way to share your engagement photos while providing white space for your guests to wish you well. Traditional guest books tend to get stored away but a book like this is likely to be enjoyed by many. These books would both make great coffee table books.