Photographer people- - - HELP!

To make a long story short, my parents had a very bad fire in their home. In the midst of cleaning up, we happily discovered that all the family photos are intact! I found photos of my parents as young kids in Ireland and even ones of me as an infant I never saw before. Very cool!

However, my mom, with four kids and my parents always constantly working, never had time to organize their pictures. Over 40 years worth of photos are all mixed in together. After the scare we had, I want to make sure that they all get organized, restored (the old ones), scanned, put on disc, etc.

However, my questions to you all... is how to start!?!?!!! I've got 4 decades worth of photos spanning two countries...

1. Any tips on how to organize? (By decade, year??? country??)
2. Do you recommend a specific storage system? (Photo boxes, shoeboxes, etc. Is there any storage item out there that might protect them better?)
3. Can anyone recommend a good photo store to do some restoration work on photos (some are stuck inside frames, some have some water damage, and some are just OLD!) I was thinking Rockville Camera in Rockville Centre, but open to other suggestions as well.
4. I have found old 35mm cartridges and some old disposable cameras that were never developed. Do you think they could still be developed?
5. Once the organizing is done - how would you go about scanning? Just one at a time - - any particular way you would organize on the computer?
6. How would you back up the files? Just on disc in addition to hard drive? Any internet storage sites you can recommend?
6. Anyone know how many photos fit on a disc? I figure after all of this scanning and what not, I would like to give family members the files and/or make slide shows with them.

if you got this far, thank you. Again, looking for any and all tips, suggestions, ideas....

THANKS SO MUCH!

Re: Photographer people- - - HELP!

1. At work all of our photos are done by Year, Month, Date (now obviously you may not have all that info) so you can do year, subject

2. Do you recommend a specific storage system?
Acid Free Storage Boxes

3. Can anyone recommend a good photo store to do some restoration work on photos

Check out the price by you, cameta has it but i hate them but get a price from them and you can put an ad on craiglist. I do some photo restoration but nothing stuck in frames since i could damage the photo if i try to remove it.

4. I have found old 35mm cartridges and some old disposable cameras that were never developed. Do you think they could still be developed?

It is always worth developing to see if you have the cash to do it.


5. Once the organizing is done - how would you go about scanning?

When scanning do it the same order as your hard copies (year, month, date or whatever system you got but now use folders)
Folder 1 Year, Sub folder Month, Sub folder in month Date/location/etc. You can do batch scans depending on your scanner.


6. How would you back up the files? Just on disc in addition to hard drive? Any internet storage sites you can recommend?

Get a separate hard drive to back them up or look into online storage. If you do a hard drive store it in a different place or give a copy on DVD/CD to a safety deposit box just in case of a fire/water damage.

6. Anyone know how many photos fit on a disc?

Really depends on the size - DVD can give you more room.

Re: Photographer people- - - HELP!

If you live near Centereach, the ladies at Not Just Scrap, a scrapbooking store, do photo restoration and they can help you figure out the rest.

Re: Photographer people- - - HELP!

Thanks, Jenn.

Anyone else?

Re: Photographer people- - - HELP!

bump....