Over the past week I have been working on processing weddings and designing albums and squeezing in, amongest other things, producing a slideshow for my Dad's birthday.
I have discovered quite a few things... So many photos that have been taken of my Dad over the years are in really bad condition. I am sure this happens everywhere. There are the really old photos that are in albums... right through to the recent photos taken in the 90's.. Tears and spots, discolouration where fingers prints have been on glossy photos, dust - you name it - I have found it. Getting the scanner out of the cupboard has also been interesting "re-learning curve"... It's something you think is never needed again. I am very grateful for the digital age, the photos I have been taking over the past few years of my family - still are great quality and no scanning is required !
It's actually very strange doing "photoshop" on your relatives (besides getting very upclose and personal) and you come across all kinds of similarities, as happened in my case, between my father and my son... which you actually hadn't noticed before... Not until - that is - you are working removing dust and spots on a photo of your Dad, taken at the same age of your son ! Very scarey... The same tilt of the head, the smile - a shy, yet cheeky grin :)
My honest opinion and advice - if you have old photos - get them scanned now! If you don't want to, or can't do it - there are places/people who do that kind of service, a small price to pay for something very important. Put them onto disks and external hard drives - and then keep them somewhere safe. So many people wait until someone has passed away before getting things organised. In this busy life and times - it is understandable .
It's also really helpful to put the dates in soft pencil on the back of the photo - so many times you guess, and it is wrong. It is probably a good idea to get the photos in some sort of chronological order for the slideshow.
The slideshow was a great hit at the celebration. It ended up a VERY long slideshow - by the time I added bits and pieces of the past that I remembered about my Dad as I was growing up, the comedy, the music, the fun, and just some of the stuff we used to do - memories I shared with my Dad - part of what/who made me who I am today:). The show is on DVD so it can be enjoyed on the TV and computer. I have also uploaded it to the web - so that it can be viewed by family and friends all over the world who have discovered the joys of broadband.
The music for the slideshow - I had been given by Dad (many CD's and changing into MP3 files later , thanks to my daughter Ashley, I didn't quite have the patience! ) -Those songs - really made the slideshow very personal and also brought back lots of memories of my childhood.. Surpisingly, - no I am not embarrassed, I remembered the words to many of them. Trolling through many family and personal photo albums has been a track back down the good times of memory lane - something we should all do from time to time... Holidays, parties, fun times, births, weddings, school days, past work mates and jobs - brings you back to reality . I was so pleased Dad has this slideshow now and that it wasn't something put together in a rush at a very sad time. Something to think about....
