Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Fait Accompli

It was rough, but I am done! Every negative in my house is scanned, sorted, dated and edited and TOSSED (there is no going back.. negatives and photos are Gonzo! Kaput! In the Great Photo Album in the Sky! Garbage City! Houdini-ed out of the house! You get my drift....)! Total number of negatives organized: approx. 5,000. Total negatives kept: roughly 4,000. Number of marbles left in brain... two.

Things I learned from this process, both practical and emotional:

1) Both the scanner surface and the negatives must be free of dust. Somewhat difficult when a person decides to spin Cashmere and silk while scanning negatives, but lesson learned rather quickly. Only a few negatives were so dusty they had to be rescanned.

2) Spray air is handier than heck, much better than a swiffer, although I do think that it may have altered the colour of some of the negatives, I'm not entirely sure.

3) Computers can make most pictures look decent. Not blurry ones or really bad ones (maybe they can, but I was doing the quick and dirty method of editing... "press button to fix".. Film cameras were, by no means a guarantee of a good shot, usually discovered at the moment of developing...... I managed to save a few pictures that would have been garbage without a computer and I'm sure if I spent the time editing in a proper editing program I could make them even nicer....

5) Scanning is a messy job. Photo Albums, negatives, packaging and storage containers were everywhere and were not to be touched by other residents of the household on threat of immediate dismemberment. I had a rather loose organization system and NOONE was messing it up.... It felt really good to clear all that up today.

6) I have some really great friends. Friends I've had for many, many years and I feel lucky to still have them in my life.

7) Eli was freakin' tiny.... Intellectually I knew that, but emotionally, I had forgotten and to SEE the pictures and have the memories brought back was a bit of a shock.... 3lbs 5oz is teeny weeny.... I also really like to take pictures of my children crying... Let's face it, toddler temper tantrums are hilarious (as long as you're in the right frame of mind.... after 3 days of constant crying/tantrums they are less cute)

8) Photos are a great way to remember. For the most part, I could remember approximately when, where and why each bunch of photos were taken..... even though I thought that I have forgotten..... I'm glad that I will have them in my regular circulation so that the memories stay fresh.

9) I have had a great life. Dale and I have been together for almost 19 years and most days it really feels like it, but looking back at the photos makes me realize that there is no one else I would rather have in my pictures and I am glad he'll be in the next 20 years worth.... (at least I feel that way today... we'll see next week/month/year... Marriage is tough!)

10) I look pretty good for nearly 40...... I haven't really changed that much in the last 20 years. That could be due to the fact that I need glasses, but I choose to think otherwise.....


So here are a few pictures that I thought I'd share and a link to a separate page with a slideshow. It is difficult to fit 10 years into 50 pics, but I tried.


Honeymoon in Mexico














3 days old. The first time I got to hold him.

Look at how big that Preemie outfit is on him!


Eli holding the same outfit.. He couldn't believe it either.









Here is the link (in case you missed it above) if you'd like to see these and a few more in a slideshow. I apologize for the music. I disabled it, but the computer decided I needed music...

1 comment:

  1. I absolutely love the photo of little Eli on the grass in his altogether. How sweet and childhood-perfect!

    As for your big job, I have it on my uberlist for the year: scan all my photos, all my parents' photos, all my husband's parents' photos... etc. I want to keep them on disc or on memory sticks, along with files that tell me who's in picture one, where and when it was taken... etc. Big job indeed!

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