Have you digitized your photos?

A recent survey indicates probably not.

A recent post in “Dead Pixels Society” by Gary Pageau reported on the results of a customer survey conducted by ScanMyPhotos, showing that only 24% of people who are digitizing photos and old media have completed the work. The survey also asked who has looked at their old photos, films, slides etc., since they were first developed. And 96% reported they haven’t looked at their photos, films etc. since they were originally developed. I have to say that I haven’t completed digitizing of all my own photos and memorabilia either, and am guilty of not looking at those that haven’t been digitized yet.

Everyone has these scary boxes!

There are so many reasons to digitize your photos, films and ephemera - most important to me is to tell the family stories that these items hold. Without digitizing, it is very hard to unite images with stories. Another reason is to preserve digital images of the items in case the originals are lost. So many photos are lost these days to fire, floods, tornados, hurricanes and other disasters. Many more are lost because the owners pass on or have to downsize and the photos end up in a thrift store or the garbage.¹

Organizing and digitizing your photo collection can be a daunting task. I work with

Barbara at Projectkin

to help you overcome your “Mt. Inertia” and conquer digitizing your photos, film and other items to tell the stories behind them. You can find us at Kathy’s Corner with a monthly series of programs to help you climb Mt. Inertia. If you are looking for a guide to get you started preparing your photos for digitizing, check out my post “8 Steps to Take you from Tubs of Photos to Tales of Yore”. If you haven’t subscribed to Kathy’s Coaching for more tips and ideas to help you conquer Mt. Inertia, click that button below.

Photos Matter. Stories Matter. Celebrate Yours.

1. Kathy’s Tip - printed photos cannot be recycled because of the chemicals used in the development process. I recommend looking at projects that reuse photos if you don’t want to throw away. Pinterest is a good place to start.