Make Old Pictures New Again

When I drove away from my parents' home after visiting over the holidays, I had some additional baggage in the trunk.

Five plastic totes and one old wooden box overflowing with old photos filled the back of our minivan. Black-and-whites of my great-grandparents and brown-and-white pictures of my parents’ school days were jumbled among pictures of a 13-year-old me with feathered bangs and silver braces. Some of the photos were in rusted picture frames. A few of those were permanently stuck to the glass. Most pictures had nothing written on them, leaving me with questions like, “Who the heck is this?”

It turns out that one of my grandfathers worked as a professional photographer during the '40s and '50s. He saved many of the portraits he took. Weeding out the pictures of strangers became the first order of business when I unloaded those totes.

I started to organize by dumping out all the totes and creating folders — not computer folders, rather the old-fashioned manila kind. I gave each folder a label — “Grandpa Sandy’s Youth,” Grandma Nellie as a girl,” etc. Then, I started placing the pictures into their corresponding folders.

I was heartless in this decluttering process. Any blurred, mildewed or indistinguishable photo went into the trash. If I couldn’t determine who was in the picture, I set it aside to ask my parents when I next see them.

Buried in those boxes were some hidden treasures: a beautiful picture of my parents before they went to a dance, circa 1960; a memorable photo of my grandfather standing on a boat dock holding hands with my then 5-year-old father. I knew I needed to preserve and share these pictures.

Enter modern computers. We own a combination printer, fax and scanner. I started scanning those photos and adding captions with the intent to create an online photobook at a site like Snapfish or Shutterfly. Those books can be sent to family members who can enjoy them online or purchase a hard copy. The scanned photos can easily be burned onto a DVD and handed out to family members, as well.

If you don’t have a scanner, or don’t want to take the time to scan your own photos, services like Scan My Photos and Fotobridge can do it for you. They can even scan negatives, slides, home movies and videos. Whatever you send to them will be returned to you, along with a high quality DVD containing all of your pictures. With that DVD, you can create your own photobook, or share the pictures with family and friends.

So, I've started scanning photos into the laptop and adding captions where I can. It's a slow labor of love. I was feeling proud of my progress until I talked to my mom this week.

"We'll bring the rest of the boxes of pictures when we visit next weekend," she said.

"How many?" I asked faintly.

"As many as we can fit in the car," she promised.

Oh, good. An unfinished project I can eventually hand down to my great-grandchildren.