The most exciting and busy time of the year is coming. While the holiday season is all about partying and having fun, it’s also one of the best times to bond with your family over mundane yet fun tasks like photo organizing. Family members are your best resource when it comes to sorting and figuring out what’s worth keeping and what isn’t, and the holidays are a natural time for everyone to come together and cherish reminiscing over old memories with a glass of wine.

Getting started with the three-pile method
If you’re that responsible photo keeper sibling, the best way to tap your family as a resource over the Christmas vacation is to get started on your own first. Be the Mississippi genealogy department and consolidate all your photos (and home movies) onto the living room floor and dive into it.
We recommend dividing your photos into the “yes” and “no,” and “maybe” piles. The best way to do this is to make an initial first pass through your entire collection because the ones that are NOT likely to be discarded and the ones you won’t need at all are naturally going to stand out right away. Here’s a fairly helpful criterion to sort your piles:
YES

• Wedding albums
• High School pictures
• Professional portraits
• Events
• Heartfelt photos that trigger an important memory

NO

• Blur photos
• Bad angled landscape photos
• Cut off limbs
• Unclear photos
• Over or underexposed ones

MAYBE

• Any photo you don’t like, but can’t even throw away would like to keep
• Multiple photos from a single event that needs to be narrowed down
• Photos of unknown people and distant acquaintances
• Photos that are quite similar, but still different

There are multiple reasons you might put a photo into the “yes” pile over the “maybe” or “no” piles, and the hardest pile to sort through after getting done with your first pass. That’s where your family will pitch in!

Ask your family to come over with their photo books
The last thing you want to happen after putting so much time into organizing and consolidating your old family photos and video collection is for an auntie to find a stash of memorable photos you didn’t know you had. Ask your family to bring over all the albums they recovered through photo scanning service. Make sure they bring all the photos or videos lying around that they’d like you to organize. If they only have a few photo books, they could bring to Thanksgiving dinner, and you can sort those after stuffing yourselves with pumpkin pie. However, if they have huge bundles of your great-uncle’s scrapbooks or grandmother’s slides, have them over in time.

Families that organize photos together, last together.
Spend time organizing whatever you can before your family crashes for the holidays. Take the time to set aside any confusing photos you’ve run into, and then they’ll all be readily available to share with your loved ones as they arrive. We’re listing three common brick-walls that we’ve come across so far. Your family members will definitely help you sort them out.

• Illegible photo captions.
  
• Unidentified people.
• Unlabeled tapes.

Don’t forget to create new memories too
Organizing your oldest memories or sending the negatives from the 1960s for negative scanning services is a wonderful responsibility and a family activity to tackle around the holidays, but don’t get too indulged in this that you forget to take new photos and update your digital library! All the work you’re doing to organize your collection and keeping it safe shows your dedication and is the perfect indicator of how imperative it is to stay on the top of your digital library always. If you already have that in mind, you’re on the right track! In case, you are a little behind, here’s what you need to do:

• Get everything off your camera and phone right after the holiday.
• Create a separate Thanksgiving or Christmas or Hanukkah 2019 folder on your desktop and save all the contents.
• Mark your favorites right away and delete all the rest, blur, and not-so-good photos to free up space on your computer.

Your family will be impressed at how efficiently and quickly you are able to sort and share all the best holiday photos! They’ll be even more impressed with all the smart work you’ve been doing to collect and organize the old memories collection for the entire family.

Vintage photo scanning services are not just a service; they are the embodiment of history, love, and bonding!

As the members of the Greatest Generation, our great grandparents leave us, a part of our family history is lost too. The history of storytelling marks its beginning with families passing down history through centuries of beautiful sentimental tradition. But today, it doesn’t happen as much as it used to. In this digital age, lots of forces are chipping away at the oldest ritual of storytelling.

Families no longer live together; people are separated by distances, moving out of their hometowns, and don’t have enough time to spend with their loved ones and relatives. Old family photos and movies aren’t able to be cherished in the family time because they’re on extinct formats like 8mm film, VHS and slides, which is not really accessible in today’s age.
In a digital world where there’s a flood of technology and information at our fingertips, it’s easy to forget that some of our most lovable and important family stories are only alive in our minds as memories and in the minds of our aging closed ones.

Family storytelling – the world’s most beautiful tradition

The bliss of family storytelling stretch far beyond the simple joy of listening to the older generation’s lovely recount stories of their youth, overcoming hardships, and, more importantly, how they witnessed the world evolving. Family stories enrich a deeper understanding of a family’s history in the young ones and play a considerate part in making children much more confident and resilient. In fact, research has it that knowing one’s family history is one of the best single predictors of children’s better emotional health and happiness.
Children are really into stories; knowing their parents love story, historical events narrated by grandmas’ or on which farm did grandpa grew up, really interest them. Sitting in the living room with old albums and slides on a Sunday afternoon is considered the best family time. This tradition reminds the new generation that they belong to something more significant than themselves: their family.
But how do we bring the long lost art of storytelling into today’s modern digital age?

Here at Scan South, we specialize in digitizing old home movies and photos. As a photograph scanning service, we believe that there’s a need to rewind a little with the art of storytelling through old, vintage photographs. It’s time to rethink family history, adapt it to our modern-day actualities, and enable it in the digital age. We realize how important it is to use the memories from the attic and make something shareable from them, like a custom photo book or slideshow. That way, not only your golden memories are safe and preserved, but their story becomes sharable for generations.

Your stories matter

Your family’s story is not meant to fade away with your broken movie tapes, cracked aging pictures, and the demise of loved ones. Modern-day storytelling is not a tough nut to crack, slight involvement of technology with some organization skills, and a profound love of preserving memories can help you in keeping the tradition of family storytelling alive.
A digital version of your old dying negatives with Scan South’s negative scanning service and your dusted films reeking of old black and white memories can keep your family connected, help future generations conserve your family legacy and namesake.
“If you want a happier family, create, refine, and retell the story of your family’s positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come.

- Bruce Feiler, The Stories That Bind Us (a New York Times article)
 
What else could be a more amazing gift for yourself and your family than reviving the bliss of family storytelling in this digital age? Find out more about Scan South, as we preserve memories to last a lifetime.

Although in the 1950s nitrate film was discontinued, however, if by any chance it’s still left in your collection, it could destroy your whole family legacy.
The stories are not myths – the oldest film can burst into dangerous flames under the right conditions. Nitrate film reels sparked the 1937 Fox vault fire and were also responsible for fueling the MGM vault blaze of 1967. These fires were massively destructive, fatal, and erased huge chunks of U.S. film history stored and in the process.
This old film is a deadly fire hazard and gives off harmful nitrate gas that can set your entire house on fire damaging movies, photos, and basically everything else.
In this post, we are going to help you identify nitrate film in your memories archive. As we provide scan photo services in Jackson, Mississippi, we will explain to you the best course of action if you happen to find any.
Why is nitrate film so dangerous?Nitrate film is made from nitrate cellulose, which is a chemical used in military-grade explosives. It’s so flammable that it even explodes underwater, and improper storage ignites the fire risk even worse.
Nitrate cellulose releases a toxic gas that eats away any film stored without proper ventilation. Decayed nitrate film is even prone to catching fire, and can self-ignite at high temperatures (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.) Even if the film doesn’t catch fire, the continuous decay can ruin the photos it stores.
If you’re feeling concerned or anxious thinking about your old photos, calm down! Most films since the 1950s were made from either acetate-based safety film or polyester, both of which are way less flammable than nitrate. Still, there’s always more room for safety; we will guide you on how to safely store, handle and even digitize any old nitrate film.

Stages of nitrate film decayThe three main stages of nitrate film decomposition are:
Stage 1: Fading images and orange film discoloration
Stage 2: The film becomes sticky, smelly, and appears foamy and bubbly
Stage 3: The film turns into crumbs of bad-smelling brownish powder
Identifying nitrate filmIt’s not likely that your old film stash will have any nitrate film, but it never hurts to make sure that it doesn’t. At Scan South - Photo Scan Jackson in Mississippi, we suggest you look for the following signs to find out if you have any:
Deterioration: If you notice film in any of the three stages of decay mentioned above, assume its nitrate film. But if the film smells like vinegar or is wrinkled, it’s most likely safety film.
Labels: Check to see if ‘Nitrate’ is printed or embossed on the edge of the film. Some nitrate films have been copied onto safety film, which might have the words ‘Safety’ or ‘Nitrate’ printed on them.
Dates:

• Remember that any film dated before 1920 is a nitrate film.
• Look for notches on the corner edge of any Kodak film dated between 1921 and 1940. Hold the film with the notches, and closely examine - if the first notch from the right is shaped like a ‘V,’ you’re definitely, holding a nitrate film. But if the first notch looks like a ‘U,’ be relieved, it’s a safety film.
• For non-Kodak film before the 1950s, and all film from 1940 to 1950, and any non-dated film – look for the above-mentioned signs of deterioration.

Remember that differences between storage conditions and even manufacturers can majorly vary across different reels of nitrate film. 
How to store aging filmsDon’t have the emotional energy to give up on your vintage film? You can undertake the following steps to safely store nitrate film while minimizing the risks of fire and deterioration before you encounter any loss.

• Low temperature: store nitrate film at a fixed 50 degrees Fahrenheit
• Low humidity: keep nitrate film at nearly 40-45% relative humidity
• Ventilation: store film inside well-ventilated rooms in ventilated containers.
• Away from any other media: keep your nitrate film nowhere near any other media to reduce the risk of damage from fire.

Sprinklers: if possible, have a sprinkler system for your nitrate film piles to keep any potential fires contained

Don’t wait for too long!On our blog, you will often find us writing about the short shelf life of your photos and home movies, but the risks of nitrate film weight a greater sense of urgency. We hope that you’re ready to store these vintage aging memories properly, even if you haven’t made up your mind for digitization yet.
Once you have decided to finally go for a film to digital transfer or negative scanning in Jackson, don’t forget to keep Scan South in mind for all of your digitization needs. Feel free to contact us with all your questions about the vintage movie film. We’d be more than happy to help!

October 21st is widely celebrated as Home Movie Day, a day that is dedicated to celebrate and preserve the memories of evergreen home movies! We at Scan South, work a lot with home movies and so, we are going to cover some basic tips on how to care for film reel collection.
With our 8mm or 16mm movie to DVD conversion, we handle and scan your film elements with the utmost care, and once we return the film materials, many clients ask us about taking care of original films. While these films often an original one-of-a-kind element from your memories archives, we will guide you on how to keep them safe as souvenirs of generations.

Preserving film reelsWe work with 8mm and 16mm film reels every day. Though your films may be all untouched and preserved in their original box, here are some efficient storage tips to maximize the longevity of your original material:

• A basic rule of thumb to follow for vintage film reels and any other media is to keep them in a dry and cool place. The film is an organic material and is equally subjected to the laws of nature, just like everything else.
• An environment of 40 degrees with 40%-50% relative humidity will keep your reels intact for the longest amount of time. If stored in perfect conditions, film reels can outlast any DVD, videotape, or digital file.
• Keep them in such a space where the humidity and temperature will stay the most consistent.
• If you want to upgrade your film preservation process to the next level, you can also store them in a freezer or refrigerator - as long as it’s not the same one that you use for your kitchen.
• When storing films in their cans or reels, you should get rid of rubber and plastic elements. The outside material may deteriorate onto the film or introduce other substances, which can cause damage to it or trigger decomposition. So, make sure to remove any tape or rubber band secured to the film.
• If you are into labeling and want to label the contents of your reels before you sent them for 8mm to DVD service, use acid-free paper for labels and stick them to the outside of a film can or box.
• Avoid keeping film reels in plastic bags or airtight jars. Storing films in an airtight container will trap its emitted gases, which will accelerate the film’s organic deterioration.
  

How to handle film reelsHandling reels can be fun and rewarding, just be aware of the condition of your reel, and the condition you would want it to stay in. Here are some tips on how to handle film reels.

• Always hold films by edges, you should try not to touch the flat surface of the film as any oils or dirt from your hands could harm it.
• If you have plans to view the film on a projector, make sure that there’s no wear and tear on the film – especially on the edges and the sprocket holes on edge.
• Make sure that the film’s threading path is clean and clear. Any dust or dirt in the projector can scratch the winding film on the rollers.
• Do not pause or stop the film while the projector lamp is on; this can melt or burn the film.
• When winding the film back onto the reel, make sure that it’s flat and smooth, and does not have any twists.

With the hum of the motor and the flicker of the projector, seeing actual film reels projected on a plain wall allows you to experience the real feel of these films. By following the steps mentioned above and being careful with your film reels, you will be able to revisit these memories for many more years to come.
While 8mm film to digital conversion service is what we do, but we still acknowledge the essence these films have. Thus, properly handling and storing them is the key to preserve your old memories.