Chances are, it has been a very long time.  There are many who are totally unfamiliar with 35mm film.  Our world has gone digital.  Cameras today store images on SD (secure digital) cards rather than film.  When we scan in old family photos, the scanner makes a digital copy of it.  When we take snapshots with our smart phone or tablet, the digital photos are frequently “in the cloud”.  Unfortunately, digital photos can easily become vanishing memories.

Challenges

Digital Clutter

In today’s world, taking photos with digital camera, smart phones, or tablets is easy – – we click away.  Before long, we have tons of images and are faced with digital clutter.  For example, we take several photos of that cute kid eating an ice cream cone.  Eight of the photos were bad, but two were really good.  Instead of keeping the two good ones and trashing the bad ones, we keep all ten photos.  That adds up quickly.

Organization

With our digital photos all over the place — in our computer; on our phone and/or tablet; in the cloud; still on the SD card, etc. — it is easy to see organization can be a big problem.  Even the photos stored in your computer are most likely scattered around in different folders.  With the large volume of digital images, it does not take long to become so overwhelmed that you no longer can find that special photo when you want to share it with family and friends.

Backup

Unfortunately, all technology can fail.  Our digital photos reside as ‘zeros and ones’ on our computer hard drives, or remain on the camera’s media card. Hard drives can crash, SD cards get lost, or computer files get cannot be found. Be sure you have a backup plan in place and use it regularly.

Access

While it is not pleasant to think about “what if something happens to me”, it is a good thing to consider now and then.  What part of your digital world would do you want your loved ones to be able to access?  Will they have the necessary passcodes to access them?

Actions You Can Take

Print Copies

If you prefer not to use a computer or the Cloud, you can print out physical copies of your treasured photos of family and friends.  Bring your SD card to any number of stores with a camera department (Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, just to name a few). They will assist you in making your print copies.  Then you will have a physical copy of your photos for you to store with your other photos, and perhaps add to a scrapbook.

Organize

– SD Card

If you prefer to keep your images on the SD card from your camera, be sure to label the ‘full’ cards so that you will be able to find an image you when you want it.

– “In the Cloud”

it is important to take advantage of the tools provided (depending  upon the cloud app) to add keywords, tags, names, etc. to the image.

– Computer

Once your your digital photos are on your computer, organize them into folders for easy access.  For example, I organize my photographs into one folder named “Photo Archives”.  Within that main folder, I have subfolders for each year, ex. “PhotoArchive_2018”.  Within the year folders, I use subfolders by months for the pictures I take, e.g. “2018_01_Grandkids” or “2018_05_Galapagos”.  This is where I store the master copies of my photos.  When I want to use one for a project, I make a copy for that project and leave the original in the PhotoArchive.

Backup

To safeguard my photos from computer crashes, I keep a copy of this folder on an external hard drive.  In addition, I regularly backup my computer to protect against a crash.

Digital Breadcrumbs

After you have spent time gathering and organizing your digital photos, you need to be sure that they will live on for the next generation.  Be sure to leave a breadcrumb trail so someone will know what you have in your digital archive, where you have stored it, as well as the necessary password(s) to gain access.  We tend to forget that as we store all of our contacts, as well as photos, on our digital devices, others will not be able to access any of that information.

Make a Digital Scrapbook

If you are comfortable working with your computer, you may enjoy digital scrapbooking.  In addition to having your photos on your computer, you will also need to have a basic Imaging Editing program (check out Imaging Editing Software).  With those items in place, you can find a number of websites on digital scrapbooking that will help you get started.  Basically, you create and decorate digital scrapbook pages.  When they are complete you can have them printed as a single sheet to add to your existing album, or in a complete book format.

Unless you develop your own strategy to handle these thoughts, one of two things is likely to happen. The first thing is that you switch gears and change topics in the middle of writing about the first thread.

Charlestown residents work closely with student partners, acting as author and creative director of their individual story. Each student brings their own style and talents to the project, helping to create some unique examples of intergenerational storytelling. Click here to see some of the stories that have been created over the years.

Deep in the trunk, I discovered a CD disc with a 45-minute audio recording.  The year before, Mom and my sister had a fun afternoon when the NPR Story Corps mobile unit came to Lafayette.  My sister asked questions and Mom talked about her amazing life.  I paired sections of her recording with old photos I scanned from the trunk.  Mom was telling her own life story for generations to come. 

The video came together and was ready as we gathered for her final farewell.

Virginia Domingue DeVilbiss Tracy did, indeed, have an Amazing Life.

Try telling a small story about something that happened when you were a child. That is a good starting place.  Keeping it short and to the point is always good. For extra punch, include a twist at the end to surprise your listeners. 

In this video, Barrie Stephenson illustrates this point.

Barrie Stephenson was the Executive Producer of the BBC Telling Lives Digital Storytelling project running workshops throughout England between 2002 and 2005. Telling Lives was based on the Capture Wales project based at the BBC in Cardiff.  When the Telling Lives project ended, Barrie began Digistories to continue to pass on the skills of digital storytelling to a wide range of communities.

As I listened to my friend’s request, I got a tingle up my spine.  A few years before, we had lost our dear sister Pat very suddenly.  The next week when I met Pat, I was struck by her strong similarity with my sister Pat.  Both Pats had a radiant positive personality that filled the room with joy.  Both Pats left this world entirely too early, at about the same age.  I felt honored to be asked to make her recording.

As we discussed her project, it was clear that Pat had everything planned out in detail.  She wanted her video message to be delivered to her friends and family at her funeral.  In addition, she wanted her message to be publicly available on YouTube for anyone who might stumble across it.  We scheduled the best time for her.  Then all I had to do was to press the record button.  One take was all it took.

During the recording session, when Pat said “many people die everyday without the ability to tell their friends and family how much they love them,” a chill ran up my spine.  My sister Pat had passed away suddenly without being able to say good-bye.  This now felt like a special message from her.