I have produced a series of videos to help you preserve and share your family heritage and your stories.
Learn how to calculate the ideal scanning resolution, store images and documents in the Cloud, and get professional results with your SmartPhone.
How to Calculate Ideal Scanning Resolution
The ideal print resulution is 300 dots per inche (dpi).
That means if you want to print an image on 8 by 10 inch photo paper, the scanned image should by 2400 by 3000 pixels (dots).
This video shows the calculations and a demonstration of importing from a scanner to PhotoShop.
There are many scanners and software for scanning, so the demonstration is to show the calculations and general approach.
How to Store Photos and Documents in the Cloud
Here is a short tutorial on Storing Photos and Documents in the Cloud.
Google Drive, Google Photos, Dropbox, and others a good places to store photos and documents.
We use Google Drive for the demonstration, including creating folders, uploading files, uploading whole folders from local and external drive, adding descriptions, and more.
How to Shoot Video with a SmartPhone
How to get professional results using the video camera built into a modern smartphone.
With careful placement, you can get good results with the phone alone.
I also recommend a few inexpensive additions such as a tripod, external microphone, and lighting to get even better results.
How We Can Help
Our business was mostly to visit people and interview them in person to make a story production.
Now that is not possible during the Coronavirus lockdown.
We can still work with you to make stunning Story Productions.
The Story Production Secrets can help you to much of the work yourself.
We can offer coaching through the process and also take the images, videos, family documents, and interviews to create Story Productions featuring you, your loved ones, or your business.
Contact me at greg@tellyourstory.productions to discuss your project.
A personal story that you want to preserve and share?
Tame a mountain of photos that you want to organize, preserve, and share?
Celebrate life together for an anniversary.
Commemorate a life milestone like a graduation or wedding?
Collect and share your family stories?
Present a life story, perhaps your own, at a memorial?
Many of your Story Production projects have come to us in surprising ways.
Some are people wanting to put together their life stories in photos, music, and interviews to share with family members at special events or memorials. One presentation for a birthday was expanded a year later for a memorial.
We want to know what you are interested in? What kinds of story productions would appeal to you?
Please Complete Our Poll
You can select more than one option for the multiple-choice selections and there is an open question at the end to tell us what you are looking for that may not be in the questions. Thank You.
Gift personal and family memories in a beautiful wooden box.
Do you have an elegant wooden box in your family that holds photos, or fine silverware, jewelry, special keepsakes, or other treasures?
Would you like to create a new Memory Box to give to someone special or family members?
In the digital age, often photos and video exist only in the cloud and on devices. A memory box could contain the video, photos, and other keepsakes to take a proud place on a mantle.
Preserve Stories and Legacy
We can help you create some or all of the following Story Productions to go into a Memory Box and also shared online:
Video Interviews
Photo Collections
Video Story Productions
Audio Recordings
Photo Book
Family or Personal History Book
The box can contain a combination of digital and printed resources, along with other keepsakes.
Perfect For Special Occasions
A perfect Anniversary Gift.
The perfect Graduation Gift.
A lasting gift to family members at a Memorial.
Can you think of other special occasions?
Recommended Sources or Memory Boxes
Etsy.com is a great source of memory boxes of different sizes and styles.
Many can be etched, painted, or engraved to create a special keepsake for your loved ones.
We Fill Your Memory Boxes
We offer a wide range of Story Productions to go into your special memory Box.
Would you like a place to preserve and share your family memories, stories, and heritage?
A place to share photos, videos, and written stories.
A place to celebrate and remember how you arrived at today?
We can build a beautiful online home dedicated to your family.
Here are some suggestions about what could go into your memory home.
Tell Your Personal Story and Leave a Legacy
How do you want to be remembered when you are gone? What stories do you want to share with your family?
We can help tell your personal story to your loved ones while you are alive, at the celebration of life when you pass, and for future generations on your Family Memory Home.
Celebrate Anniversaries
Are or people you love celebrating an Anniversary soon?
Would you like your story told at the Anniversary celebration?
Would you like the anniversary celebrated and shared on your Family Memory Home for current and future generations?
Family Legacy and Geneology
Do you love researching family history? We can help and share on your Family Memory Home.
Celebrate Accomplishments
Have family members started successful businesses?
Have they made important contributions to making their communities and the world a better place.
Celebrate the successes on your Family Memory Home.
Weddings
Have a place to share wedding photos and video to create lasting memories of the cherished special occasion.
Family Reunions
Capture photos, video, and family stories at your family reunion.
Graduations Ceremonies
Celebrate the academic successes and milestones of your family members.
Memorial Services
Leave a lasting legacy for yourself and your loved ones.
How We Help
Create an online Family Story Home for everything that follows.
Transform existing photos an stories into memorable Story Productions.
Arrange for photo shoots, video, and interviews for upcoming family events.
Prepare special Story Productions for showing at family events.
Grow the Family Stories Home for sharing with current and future generations.
Let’s Talk About Your Family Story Home
Contact Greg Dixon at gregdixon@tellyourstory.productions to book your free discovery session.
Available For Live Talks
We can speak for your family or seniors group for free if in your area.
Learn about telling family stories doing the following:
Start a Family Story Home.
Have a Fun Family Photo Party.
Create presentations with the photos and stories for use at Celebration of Life ceremonies, Anniversaries, Weddings, Graduations, and other family events.
Receive free information about how your group can do it themselves.
We also offer packages for us to help get er done.
Contact Greg Dixon at gregdixon@tellyourstory.productions to book a presentation for your group.
Join Our Newsletter for Advice and Appearance Notices
Receive valuable advice and information about webinars, personal appearances, and special offers.
You have sometimes looked at that mountain of boxes of old family photos and thought the D-Word.
Who is that?!?
Dumpster
Who would know? Right?
If asked, you would say something like, “‘Geez, I thought those were boxes of old Playboy (Playgirl, Sweet 16, Popular Mechanics, …) magazines you wanted me to dump.’
Still, you will feel like you have a reservation in that special place in hell next to people who commit atrocities or talk in the theatre.
Why Keep Them?
So you can’t just dump the photos, but why keep them?
Here are some of the reasons that may be haunting you:
The photos are a record of your life.
You have been entrusted to maintain the family heritage and legacy.
Ignoring or destroying the photos would dishonour your ancestors.
In the age of Ancestry sites and programs, many people would delight to know more about your family members.
Everyone has interesting lives and stories worth telling.
Some of the photos may have historical value.
Many of the photos trigger fun memories.
But I Can’t Store Them Forever!
Yes, just having them take space in your basement or storage unit until left to the next generation won’t fly either.
So you are stuck between a box and a hard place.
You have to do something!
Why not try to make it as fun as possible?
Transform Guilt into Fun!
Have a Fun Family Photo Party
Here are some ideas to turn the drudgery into a fun event for your family.
You can try the suggestions yourself or have us help relieve some of the drudgery and create an entertaining and enlightening experience for you.
Imagine the Party
You and your family members are sitting around a table or reclining in a living room with your favourite beverage in hand.
On a screen (the largest you have available), you are flipping through the scanned and restored photos.
‘Hey, that is Missy Springhorn! she was in my grade one class. She used to blow her nose into her sleave. Yuk!’
‘That is Uncle Bob, I think he lived in Cleaveland and worked as a blacksmith.’
‘That is Grandma and Grampa Gunderson getting married on 1897.’
As you discuss the photos, you can record the session and add titles and descriptions to the photos.
Imagine the Gratitude
You family and friends will love seeing the photos and sharing the stories. They will be glad that you helped make it happen.
What If Your Family Is Spread Around The World?
Zoom is a great way for family and friends from around the world to join the party.
The host of the Zoom session can record the comments and share the screen with the photos.
Your people can join in on a desktop computer, laptop, or mobile device.
Make it a fun family event!
Wait a Minute! There is a Catch!
Yes. There are a few important steps skipped.
How do you transform that mountain of photos into images to view and document at the Fun Family Photo Party?
There is no escaping the fact that it will take some equipment, strategies, and a lot of time to digitize your treasures.
Options For Digitizing Photos
Here are some ways of capturing your photos in digital format for editing and sharing.
Do the scanning yourself. You likely have a printer with a scanner built in. Dedicated scanners run from being small and inexpensive to being capable of scanning transparencies and larger images.
Take photos of photos permanently stuck in albums or framed on the wall.
Hire someone to do the scanning.
Have a trusted service do the scanning.
Consider Having a Scanning Party
You might invite your family over to have a scanning party.
Scanning can go quicker if you have someone doing a quick sort and handing the photos to the people running the scanners.
Warning: A few beverages and you might not make much progress on the photos.
Could still be fun, though:-)
How Tell Your Story Productions Can Help
There are a number of ways we can help get your photo party started, starting with free. See Resources For Doing It Yourself below.
Until then, here is how we can help.
Photo Scanning and Organizing Special
We offer a special package where we create a framework for scanning and organizing your photos.
The package includes us scanning your photos, though the framework itself is where most the the magic happens.
The special price is $297 for just the scanning and organizing if you are not yet ready to commit to a Fun Family Photo Party.
We help facilitate your Photo Party from start to finish, including:
A Discovery Session with you to see what photos and other materials you have, what you want to achieve, how many family members you want to invite to the party.
A Family Photo Party Roadmap that outlines the steps to make the party a success.
Setting up a Photo Framework System for collecting and organizing the photos, including:
A place on Google Photos where the photos will be stored.
Create Google Drive documents for collecting stories and biographical information.
Create a Photo Index to list the photos available.
Best Practices Guides for labeling and documenting the photos.
Scanning and digitizing photos that we can access.
Coaching your family members who want to help with scanning. This is perfect if you have family members spread around the world with different sets of photos.
Processes for having your photos and possibly video digitized by trusted services.
Preliminary organization of the photos in the cloud.
Editing, cropping, and restoration of key photos.
Planning and Facilitating the Fun Family Photo Party. We will host the party using Zoom.
Transcribing the audio from the Zoom recording to collect the names and stories.
Update the labels and descriptions with information from the transcription.
Make all of the collected photos and information available to family members for continuing the process.
Provide sharing links that you can send to friends and family.
Provide a Story Production Roadmap to provide some ideas about what you could do next with the photos and stories.
Above all, the end result of preserving and sharing your priceless family photos and stories will be something you will cherish for generations.
Are You Ready to Transform Your Photo Burden to a Fun Photo Party?
We are offering a special price of $597 for a limited number of families. Various payment options are available to make it easy for you.
Let’s talk about creating a fun and lasting experience for your family.
Contact us at info@tellyourstory.productions to book your Fun Family Photo Party Special.
You can also contact Greg Dixon at greg@tellyourstory.productions or 604-762-6410.
Resources for Doing It Yourself (DIY)
We can’t possible help every family who needs help throwing a Fun Family Photo Party, so here are some resources for doing it yourself.
Google Drive is a great place for collecting and sharing family information. There are other services available, but Google Drive is a good place to start.
Zoom and Google Hangouts are good for hosting the Photo Party and also for collecting stories one on one.
Want Us To Make Your Fun Family Story Party Happen?
Contact us at info@tellyourstory.productions to book your Fun Family Photo Party Special. You can also contact Greg Dixon at greg@tellyourstory.productions or 604-762-6410.
