There are many reasons why we think it’s a great idea to have your entire collection of old photos scanned. Here are just a few….
Preservation – Photographs will fade over time and if they’re not kept dry and at room temperature your old photo albums could wither. They can also take up a lot of space and be rather heavy to carry about with you. Photos from the past have a lot of sentimental value and often can’t easily be replaced if they’re lost, stolen or damaged. Think about where you keep your photo albums at the moment – would they be safe if your house was flooded? Could you quickly grab them all if your house was on fire and the priority was keeping you and your family alive? Putting your entire collection of old photos on a USB memory stick doesn’t have to replace the original photos (indeed, it’s a good idea to keep the prints too!) – but it means if the worst was to happen to your house then you could just pick up your car keys knowing your entire childhood was attached to the keyring. We also strongly recommend having a backup of your digital images stored at a relative’s house just in case.
Sharing with family – Are you the keeper of the family photos? In our personal situation it was mum who had the 50-odd albums of pictures dating back through our lives. Mum and dad are divorced and the children have long-since moved out of home. Scanning the entire collection of 8,000 photos means we can all now have a digital copy to keep and look at whenever we like. Members of the extended family can also have copies if you want them to. It also means that photos don’t need to be divided up when someone dies – everyone can have a copy to preserve the family history for future generations of each section of the family.
Sharing the with the world – “Here’s me opening my presents on Christmas morning 1984!”. Love it or hate it, Facebook is incredibly popular and many people use it as a way of sharing photos with friends and family. Instead of taking a picture today and giving it the vintage look via Instagram, why not post some actual pictures from the 70s that you’ve just had scanned?
Turning old photos in to presents – Once scanned, your pictures will be yours to do whatever you want with. So like with pictures taken on a digital camera these days, you could get old photos turned into T-shirts, mugs, mousemats, calendars, photo-books or whatever you like. Perfect for a milestone birthday or Christmas gift!