How Can I Preserve My Lifetime of Memories in Photographs?

Like most folks you have probably have organized and sorted your photos atleast once. The problem is they never seem to stay organized no matter how hard you try, and even if they do they seem to lack that original impact that they had shortly after you took them or if they do, you never drag them out until sadly, someone passes on.

Now you can not only organize them for good, but ensure they maintain that original sentiment felt when you first took them and are readably available for that sentimental journey at a moments notice. How would you like to be able to share your most cherished memories "with" your loved ones and preserve them for future generations as well?

There is a a technique known as "video scrapbooks" that can transform your static photographs into a true cinematic experience. Much like a paper scrapbook this media places your photos into a digital format and "turns the pages" automatically for you. Once placed in this format your memories are preserved forever and can reproduced easily for sharing.

But beware!!

There are many "so called" professional services out there that can do this for you. Sadly many of them use nothing more than a "cookie cutter" software package or PowerPoint. While they may do the job to a minmal standard,they are usually considerably over priced. The cost can range from $500.00 to $2,500.00 for a mere 60 photos worth of work.

When looking for that true professional service ensure that they use the pan+zoom technique made famous by Ken Burns and include music in their presentation.

Ken Burns is the film maker that created an entire movie covering the Civil war using only photographs that were brought to life by panning across the photos and zooming in for closeup shots.

Gathering your photos and sorting them is where you get to take that sentimental journey and pick out your favorite memories to preserve.

--The Steps--

Step 1 is to decide if you are going to order your photos by date, event or person or a combination of all three.

Step 2 is placing them in the order that you would like your video to flow from first photo to the last.

Step 3 is to write on post-it notes the number of the photo, i.e. photo#1, photo#2 etc. It is important to do this prior to placing the post-it note on the back of the photo since the pressure ogf writing can mar the actual photo.

Step 3 if sending your photos via mail is to make sure your photos are placed inside of a water proof or zip-lock plastic bag and then securely place between two sturdy pieces of cardboard.

Step 4 is to make sure you place them in a shipping box (e.g.USPS, FED EX, UPS etc.) and make sure the box is label as fragile to ensure proper handling.

Step 5 it is best to send in a manner that your package can be tracked and a signature from the receiver can be obtained. Most services will pay the return shipping cost.

Whomever you choose you will definetly be glad you did once you see the results.

Paul F. Olshefsky is the owner of "Sentimental Services" a service that specializes in the creation of Picture Book DVDs and keepsake videos. His introduction into the digital world started back in 1987 when he was trained by the U.S. ARMY on teir Tactical ARMY Combat Service Support Computer System. He has continued to further his digital knowledge thru college courses. Paul F. Olshefsky
http://www.SentimentalServices.com

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President-elect Barack Obama, second from the left, stands with, from left to right, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and National Security Adviser-designate Ret. Marine Gen. James Jones, at a news conference to announce his national security team, in Chicago, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)AP - President-elect Barack Obama named former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state on Monday, and announced Robert Gates would remain as defense secretary, making President Bush's Pentagon chief his own in the drive to wind down the U.S. role in Iraq.



U.S. Army soldiers from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment pray before heading out on patrol in Baqouba, , 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)AP - Barack Obama says the U.S.-Iraq security agreement approved by Iraq's parliament puts the U.S. on a "glide path" toward reducing forces there.



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., center and junk-bond pioneer Michael Milken, left, sing the ABC song with elementary school students from Visitacion Valley Elementary School in San Francisco, Monday, Nov. 24, 2008. Pelosi and Milken help present first grade teacher Mindy Yip an award of $25,000 for the 2008 Milken National Education Award. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)AP - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is promising Congress will try to have a huge economic recovery bill ready for President-elect Barack Obama as soon as he takes office.



Shoppers are reflected as they enter the Nike Store on Chicago's Magnificent Mile Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)AP - The Thanksgiving shopping weekend may not have been the disaster some had feared, but unprecedented discounts and tempered buying likely resulted in overall soft sales as a buying binge on Friday quickly fizzled. Now, online retailers are ramping up deals to turn skittish shoppers into "Cyber Monday" spenders.



Moshe Holtzberg, the 2-year-old orphan of the rabbi and his wife slain in the Mumbai Jewish center, cries during a memorial service at a synagogue in Mumbai, India, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. Holtzberg will fly to Israel Monday on an Israeli Air Force jet with his parents' remains and the Indian woman who rescued him, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said. (AP Photo)AP - Soldiers removed the last bodies from the shattered Taj Mahal hotel Monday as India formally demanded Pakistan take "strong action" against those behind the 60-hour siege that left at least 172 people dead.



In this Nov. 4, 2008 file photo, Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, acknowledges the crowd during an election night rally in Phoenix.  Oprah wants her, and so do Letterman and Leno. Fresh from her political defeat, Sarah Palin is juggling offers to write books, appear in films and sit on dozens of interview couches at a rate astonishing for any first-term governor, let alone a Hollywood star.    (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)AP - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin implored Georgia Republicans to back Sen. Saxby Chambliss in his hotly contested Senate runoff, telling a cheering crowd Monday that the first step in rebuilding the GOP begins with the Southern state.



AP - A measure of U.S. manufacturing activity fell to a 26-year low in November as new orders dropped for the twelfth consecutive month, a trade group said Monday.

AP - Israel has gotten fed up with spam. Anyone who sends out messages without receiving the recipient's consent can now be slapped with a big fine.

In this Nov. 20, 2008 file photo, Reese Witherspoon, a cast member in 'Four Christmases,' poses on the red carpet at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)AP - Thanksgiving weekend movie crowds gobbled up the Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn holiday comedy "Four Christmases," which debuted at No. 1 with $31.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.



New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress arrives at a police station, Monday, Dec.1, 2008, in New York. Burress was expected to be charged after accidentally shooting himself in the right thigh. Burress shot himself at a Manhattan nightclub Friday night and was released from a hospital early Saturday, the Giants said. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)AP - Plaxico Burress arrived at a police station early Monday, where he was expected to be charged after accidentally shooting himself in the right thigh at a Manhattan nightclub.



President-elect Barack Obama announces that Sen. Hillary Clinton will be his choice for Secretary of State during a news conference in Chicago, December 1, 2008. (John Gress/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Monday announced his national security team, nominating former rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to stay on in that role.



Members of ZAKA, Israel's non-governmental rescue-and-recovery organization which specializes in collecting human remains to ensure a proper Jewish burial, speak with policemen after performing religious rituals in front of Nariman House in Mumbai's Colaba area, December 1, 2008. (Jayanta Shaw/Reuters)Reuters - India said on Monday it had called Pakistan's envoy and informed him that deadly attacks in Mumbai were carried out by militants from Pakistan and demanded swift action against those responsible.



Tommy, from Sweden, holds his son Patrick while waiting with other stranded passengers to check-in for their flights, departing from U-Tapao, at a makeshift airline terminal in Bangkok, December 1, 2008. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)Reuters - Thai protesters prepared to end their three-month occupation of the Prime Minister's office on Monday to consolidate their grip on the main airport ahead of a court verdict that could dissolve the elected government.



Workers wearing T-shirts with company slogans at Siemens MR Center located at the Shenzhen High-Tech Industrial Park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, November 25, 2008. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)Reuters - European leaders clashed on Monday over how much public money to spend on battling recession as data showed factories were slashing output in the United States, Europe and China.



Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington November 21, 2008. (Molly Riley/Reuters)Reuters - House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi met leading governors on Monday to discuss the size and shape of an economic stimulus package she hopes Barack Obama can sign when he becomes president on January 20.



Birmingham Mayor Larry P. Langford in an undated photo. (Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Federal authorities arrested the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, on Monday as part of a corruption probe surrounding the city's sewer bonds.



A woman shops at a Walmart store on 'Black Friday' in Oakland, California, November 28, 2008. (Kimberly White/Reuters)Reuters - Key retail stocks fell on Monday as investors feared that deep discounts offered by U.S. stores during the year's first holiday shopping weekend could sap profits and would not save a bleak season.



Resident carry an injured victim of a blast at a local hospital in Swat Valley December 1, 2008. (Abdul Rehman/Reuters)Reuters - A suicide car-bomber killed eight people on Monday in an attack aimed at a military checkpost in northwest Pakistan's Swat Valley, military officials said.



A Federal Bureau of Investagation (FBI) official leaves the police headquarters in Mumbai. India has formally accused AFP - India on Monday formally accused "elements" in Pakistan of being behind the devastating Islamic militant attacks in Mumbai and demanded that Islamabad take "strong action".



A US soldier inspects his weapons before a patrol of Afghanistan's Helmand Province in May 2008. Barack Obama has nominated Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state as the US-president elect unveiled his national security team.(AFP/File/Massoud Hossaini)AFP - Barack Obama on Monday nominated his erstwhile political foe Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state, as he rolled out a muscular national security team rich in global political star power.




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