Page 14 - Mega Bridal Issue

Here Comes the of country. Out of country? Not a chance in the galaxy that I would
box up my photo treasures and allow a stranger to send these
precious possessions to India or China even if it were cheaper. I
Bride…The Groom needed to know where they were at all times. That demanded a lo-
cal business that performed all services on their premises.
All three of those requirements were met by a local San Diego
and… business, ScanDiegoCalifornia. You can visit them at www.scandi-
egocalifornia.com or call 1 – 800-297-SCAN. Owner, Brett Weiss,
walked me through the simple process of getting my project started.
I had taken all the photos out of my first non-digital album to find
The Photographer that his services could have done that for a small additional charge.
They would also do it for photos kept loosely in boxes. So my
seven remaining albums went to him intact and untouched.
By Tasha Donahue My albums were ready for scanning but some of the older photos
were already fading. Weiss showed me the difference between
color-edited and not. At two cents extra per photo I found that a real
Besides the man standing next to her perhaps, the most important value. I also had them rotate the photos so that the transition into
thing to every bride is the photography of her wedding day. There a photo book website would be easier. Weiss also told me Scan-
are myriad ways of recording the day; the digital age provides a full DiegoCalifornia does what is called “Life Stories”, a CD slide show
range of choices to preserve priceless photos and videos in style. accompanied with your favorite music. I thought of a million applica-
Digital may have been around awhile but navigating the variety of tions for that idea: For brides, their family, friends, engagement par-
digital services can be confusing so I recently decided to investi- ties, and wedding showers. Life stories would add a real dimension
gate. While it wasn’t for my wedding (now long since experienced), to the activities both prior and subsequent to The Big Day.
it was for my lifetime of photos. I have carefully kept those ever- Another plus was that ScanDiegoCalifornia will pick up my heavy
expanding photo albums to document my life but they have become albums and return the finished CD to me. When they returned the
too cumbersome and voluminous. Now we can create sleeker, project they stayed (bless them) to help me upload them onto my
beautifully designed books that provide an opportunity for us to tell computer which facilitated applying them to my photo book website.
our personal stories in a very professional manner. Time to modern- CDs prevent fading. ScanDiegoCalifornia offered a a variety of
ize! CDs. Normal, commercial CDs are programmed to last an aver-
I have always been my family’s official “Memory Keeper”. As a age of five to fifteen years. However, Weiss offered a gold CD, not
child I remember staring at an old sepia photo (now, unfortunately, easily available to the public that will last one hundred years. OK,
long since lost) of my great grandfather with beard, Western attire so call me overprotective. Some day one of my great grandchildren
and gun! As I stared at the eyes of a young man I had never met, or their grandchildren will really appreciate that about me. They
I marveled at the resemblance to my own father. It was thrilling to won’t moan and groan over lost photos like that of my great grandfa-
see where I came from. As a teen I carried around an old 8mm ther. After all, this project was not so much a gift for me as for the
14 movie camera with its large over-powerful light (that made everyone generations to follow. For safekeeping I put that gold CD in my safe
squint). That awareness in documenting my life unfolded with wed- deposit box at my bank. After all, in my family I am the Memory
dings, babies, grandchildren and travels around the world. When I Keeper. Great grandfather would be proud.
received my first digital camera everything fast-forwarded. Here’s a few ideas for the bride, her family and friends:
I started with on-line photo book services. First, I created an African • At the engagement party, present a “Life Story” of the both the
Safari book from recent digital photos. There is a learning curve bride and groom-to-be in childhood movies and slide shows.
here so you must be patient. Next I tackled a more difficult idea: • The bridal attendants could share a photo book at a wedding
A birthday book for my son as he turned twenty-five, all made from shower.
non-digital photos; another learning curve. This journey continued • The bride could gift a photo book of her engagement, wedding
with a two-volume set of my six months in Paris (two thousand pho- activities and honeymoon to her attendants.
tos!) which led to photo book gifts for a visit with my granddaughter, • The bride and groom could assemble their favorite photos on a
and trips to Ethiopia and Costa Rica. I had actually transitioned to photo book website and let everyone order their favorite shots.
the digital age in a way I never imagined. Simply put: A photo book is a beautiful opportunity to express the
Now I was ready. I wanted to have my entire eight non-digital photo commitment, the romance and fun that one wants to remember
albums (not to be confused to photo books) copied with the high- forever.
est quality scanning available commercially. I had scanned my Reasons for scanning for the rest of us:
son’s birthday photo book to my home computer. Like most home Fire protection
scanners, the resulting quality was marginal. In facing thousands • Estate Planning: Record and duplicate for all beneficiaries not
of photos of my life I was determined to have it done with a more only photos but tapes, 8mm reels, 35 mm slides, documents,
professional quality. That necessity led me to the many websites favorite mementos, even cookbooks with heritage recipes.
online for scanning services. It was an eye opening experience. • Down Sizing/Spring Cleaning: I no longer want to take up
There was a full range of services and, of course, the inconsistency space with bulky, weighty albums.
in pricing was perplexing. For me, the three most important things • Family Milestones: Parents/Grandparents anniversaries,
were: weddings, graduations, birthdays, family reunions, retirement,
1.High quality scanning – I chose 600 DPI, which is the best avail- memorials.
able for quality, non commercial use. Most sites offered a choice of • Social Responsibility: Long before Alex Healey penned Roots I
300 or 600 DPI with tiered pricing. was puzzling together my genealogy.
2.Affordability – Some sites were much more economical, others • Holidays: Not just for December holiday gatherings and gift
a great deal more expensive: Prices initially range anywhere from exchanges, but Mother and Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day.
ten cents per photo to almost two dollars per photo, depending on
the size. (Tasha Donahue is a free lance writer based in San Diego.)
3.Finding a Local Business – Many businesses, often the cheaper
priced ones, require customers to box their photos and ship them to
the business. I discovered that the cheaper scanning services often
send photos (not only) out of town but out of state - sometimes out