Christmas Special - 20% Discount on all Online Print products

Photos Reunited is excited to announce that it has partnered with CeWe, the UK’s top photo-book and online print seller, to reward Photos Reunited community members with a 20% discount on all print orders this Christmas and New Year.

CeWe Photo World offers a comprehensive range of online print products that includes hard and soft cover photo-books, greeting cards, photo calendars’ and many other great print gift ideas. To browse the complete product range visit the CeWe Photo-World web site: www.cewe-photoworld.co.uk

This offer is open to all Photos Reunited community members. To become a community member you simply have to register for a free Photos Reunited online account and upload 3 of your family photos…no fee’s, no hidden charges or cost’s its totally free!

To activate your free Photos Reunited account click here or visit our website at www.photosreunited.com and start to reunite your precious family photo memories with your family, relatives and friends.

To redeem your 20% discount on any purchase from the CeWe Photo-World website you simply need to enter the discount voucher code when processing any online orders from now until 31^st January.

We hope that all our members take this opportunity to use their precious family photos to create some exciting printed products over the festive period.

www.photosreunited.com

Christmas Special - 20% Discount on all Online Print products

Create a window into the past with ABC Open's Now and Then - ABC Upper Hunter NSW - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Create a window into the past with ABC Open's Now and Then - ABC Upper Hunter NSW - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Create a window into the past with ABC Open's Now and Then - ABC Upper Hunter NSW - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Staff delighted by old photos of gardens - News - Selby Times

Staff delighted by old photos of gardens - News - Selby Times

Staff delighted by old photos of gardens - News - Selby Times

Photo Scanning Workshop - Updates

We are very pleased to report that demand for our local community photo scanning 'Photo-Protect' workshop's is growing quickly. We are committed to bringing our services to every community in the UK and to encourage everyone to consider digitising all their old family photographs to protect them for future generations and to allow you to share and exchanged your photos more easily with your family, relatives and close friends.

Full details of all the confirmed Workshops can be found on our website, here is a summary of the next scheduled Workshops:

    

Date                                                  Location     
                                 

Saturday,11th December        Community Hall, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire

Sunday, 12th December         Village Hall, Clifford Chambers, Stratford-upon-Avon  

Saturday, 15th January           Old Police Stn, Chipping Campden,

Saturday, 22nd January          All Saints Church Hall, Marlow, Buckinghamshire 

Saturday, 29th January           Larruperz Centre, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire 

Saturday, 5th February           Corn Exchange, Witney, Oxfordshire 

Saturday, 12th February         The Assembly Rooms, Alton, Hampshire

Saturday, 5th March               Christchurch, Thame, Oxfordshire 

Saturday, 12th March             The Reading Rooms, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire 

Saturday, 19th March             The Castle & Ball Hotel, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Saturday, 26th March             Old Prison, Northleach, Oxfordshire 

Saturday, 2nd April                 The Cross Barns, Odiham, Hampshire

http://www.photosreunited.com/workshops/index.html


If you would like to see a 'Photo-Protect' scanning workshop in your local community or area then please contact us and let us know either by
email: enquiries(at)photosreunited(dot)com 
or use the dedicated workshop request form via our website by clicking here

www.photosreunited.com

Photo Scanning Workshop - Updates

Your precious family photos are stored safely?

Have you noticed your valued documents and photographs showing signs of ageing? Organisations such as the Smithsonian Institution, which has thousands of important historical papers and photos in its collection, have to store their pieces with utmost care. As part of American Archives Month, the Smithsonian Institution Archives experts have shared some of their tips on how to look after precious personal records and pictures... 
 

To remove photos from an old tattered album, first make sure you have noted down any inscriptions you have written next to the pictures. Wearing gloves, put weights down, then use a micro-spatula or Teflon dental floss and gently work it under the photo without lifting it. 

To separate two photos stuck together, don't use water as this softens the image coatings and the image itself as well as separating layers in each photo. If these are very precious, you should consider contacting a photo conservator. 

The best way to store old photos is either with a new album or to organise them in envelopes. Alternatively, get clear sleeves that wrap around the photo. Supplies should be made only of photo-safe components of plastics (polythene or polypropylene) or acid and lignin-free paper. Never apply adhesive directly to a photo.
 

For storing family documents, such as birth and marriage certificates, choose an envelope made of the materials mentioned above. If you choose plastic, make sure you get a document holder that has a piece of paper or acid/lignin-free insert for behind the certificate, which will give some support to the fragile document and also absorb acid. 

Digitise items by either scanning them (if they are up to it) or taking photos of them if they are frail. Save the digital images on to a computer and keep the images on external media such as an external hard drive. Don't rely on a photo-sharing service online.
 

If you scan documents, you should use a resolution of no less than 600 ppi to yield a minimum of 6,000 pixels along the long axis. Colour should be saved as 24-bit Tiff and greyscale saved as 8-bit Tiff. It's best to use Tiff as it is a lossless format, while Jpeg experiences a loss in quality when items are edited. Save the documents as PDFs. 

For mouldy documents you want to scan, if the material is dry and not smeared or smelly, then it is probably dormant. Lay out the document on clean unprinted newsprint and gently wipe them with cotton balls on both sides. Avoid if the writing or drawing is in soft pencil or charcoal. Clean the scanner after use. 

 

With old 35mm film that you are thinking of having professionally converted to DVD, be gentle with the film. Don't try to project it until you know more about it because film can become brittle and shrunken and will not fit sprocket holes. Wear gloves and try to unreel a little bit of the film to see if you can make out anything more significant. It should be kept flat on a surface.

by Gillian Orr  The Independant 

Follow The Independant Art on Twitter: http://twitter.com/theindyarts

Your precious family photos are stored safely?

Amazing photos of the past and present Amsterdam

Read full Article: Daily Mail Online

Amazing photos of the past and present Amsterdam

Sutton Hoo dig holiday 'snaps' on display in Suffolk

Holiday "snaps" of a dig in Suffolk, UK described as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in the UK are being displayed for the first time. 

The amateur photographs are among the few records of excavations at Sutton Hoo in 1939, the National Trust said.

School mistresses Mercie Lack and Barbara Wagstaff took pictures as archaeologists studied the construction of an Anglo-Saxon burial ship.

Their photographs are now on show at the National Trust's Sutton Hoo.

Read More: BBC Website

Sutton Hoo dig holiday 'snaps' on display in Suffolk

Merging the past with the present through the medium of photograph

© The Boswell Family

My on-going project to digitise my fathers analogue photograph collection has produced another wonderful example of just how emotive a single photograph can be. When my father purchased the house he currently lives in, a rather old attractive cottage near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. Along with the property he also 'inherited' a number of old photographs of the property that had been collected by the previous occupants over the years. A few of these old photographs still hang on the wall in the cottage today

One photograph in particular caught my attention and imagination and that was a picture of an old lady stood in the doorway of the property who I know to have been Mrs Hick's. The property was first constructed in 1792 and was one of five adjoined cottages built to provide homes for the staff and labour force working at the local Mill and Manor House.

I believe the original photograph of the property with Mrs Hicks was taken in around 1890

Once I had digitised the old photograph I thought it would be interesting (and fun!) to have the old photograph merged with a modern one of the property. The results are quite remarkable, if not a little haunting!

© The Boswell Family

 If you would like to see some hi-resolution copies of these photos then CLICK HERE


www.photosreunited.com

Merging the past with the present through the medium of photograph

Cambridge Ideas - Forgotten Heroes

Cambridge Ideas - Forgotten Heroes

People prefer photos to heirlooms

Smilebox Inc., Redmond, Wash., announced the results of a new online survey revealing 61 percent of  consumers would rather receive photos that have been collected and saved over the years than family heirlooms, such as antiques, jewelry and furniture. Surprisingly, men and women of all ages would both prefer to be given old family photos and albums stretched over generations than receive family treasures.

The survey, commissioned by Smilebox.com, was conducted by Kelton Research and included 1,000 nationally representative Americans ages 18 and older.

www.smilebox.com

www.photosreunited.com

People prefer photos to heirlooms

Victorian Photos

We have kindly been given a collection of interesting original Victorian photographs. We thought we should share a few on our blog readers. Unfortunately, we must confess that we know very little about these types of photo postcards and so we would be very interested to hear from anyone who can enlighten us further as to the history of cards of this type.

© Photos Reunited

© Photos Reunited

© Photos Reunited

More of these interesting photographs can be seen on the Photos Reunited.com website.

http://www.photosreunited.com/pf/22b1cd1671ca434b.html

Victorian Photos

Mystery over photos found in garden shed

MYSTERY surrounds a hoard of family photographs discovered in a garden shed in Blackbird Leys and the Oxford Mail needs you to help identify them.

Hundreds of images have been carefully placed in albums, most of which appear to have been taken from the 1970s and 1980s.
Last night the 55-year-old said: “I just couldn’t see the photos being thrown away. There is a great big bag of them.

The images, some of which are loose or in envelopes, show a family at parties and celebrations, weddings, on holiday, and often with friends smoking and drinking at bars and pubs in the 1970s.

One envelope is addressed to an ‘Anne Meares’ and there are other references to ‘Anne and Frank’ in several old birthday and Christmas cards, included in the hoard.
One black-and-white picture is dated August 2, 1945, showing a 16-year-old girl called Pam Dwyer.

The names ‘Ryan’ and ‘Kristin and Brooke’ are written on the back of some photos of young children. There is also reference to the Currill family and an Oxford Mail newspaper cutting, showing Donna Currill as a pupil at Cardinal Newman Middle School in Cricket Road, Oxford.

Copyright: Oxford Mail

Can you help identify the people in these photos or help locate their owners?

Do you know Anne Meares or who these photos belong to? Call Emily Allen on 01865 425423.


http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/8635447.Mystery_over_photos_found_in_garden_shed/

www.photosreunited.com

Mystery over photos found in garden shed

Most photos of us are owned by someone else!

This is clearly true if you are a famous celebrity or sportsman, but its also true for most other people too – the majority of the photographs you will have taken over the years with your own camera will most likely be of someone else and not you.  In fact camera owners very rarely take pictures of themselves using their own cameras. So if this statement is true then this means that the majority of the photographs we own are likely to be of other people and at the same time it’s probably true that other people own the majority of the photographs that depict you – get the picture?

If you doubt this fact, then go and take a look at  your own old photo collections and test this for your self. Weddings, Birthdays, Christmas and Summer holidays you will have captured lots of photographs of these events over the years,  see just how many of these photographs are of other people and not of yourself...ah! that's obvious I hear many of you say.

Our old photo memories are invaluable, not only those pictures of our family members and loved ones but of course also those photographs of ourselves. As we grow older and we begin to reminisce about our personal life’s experiences we realise just how important the photographs of ourselves are. Our own individual life memories and stories can become more vivid when we have the photographs of ourselves to illustrate them.... I like to refer to these photos of ourselves as mefots!

I’m sure that many of the people depicted in our own old photographs would really appreciate the opportunity to see copies of them and maybe even own a copy for their own photo memories collection. 

The answer is simply too start sharing and exchanging copies of our old photos with the people with whom we shared our actual life moments with. By encouraging our family and close friends to do the same we will be rewarded with a few surprises as we start to see for the first time many photos of ourselves that we had forgotten about or didn't even realise existed at all. Sharing our old photos we will eventually allow us all to  build a our own unique and invaluable Mefots collection.

© Pete Boswell. All rights reserved

www.photosreunited.com

Most photos of us are owned by someone else!

Bourne End, Bucks - Photo Scanning Workshop Saturday, December 11

You are invited to join us at a local Community Photo Scanning Workshop hosted by Photos Reunited. The aims of the workshop are to provide our visitors with essential information about the importance and benefits of protecting their old photo memories by creating digital copies.

Our team will be on hand to provide specific advice and to even assist you in digitally scanning any of your photos. Don’t forget that each visitor will also be eligible for 20 FREE photos scans (Conditions Apply).

	Saturday, December 11 · 1:00pm - 6:00pm
	Bourne End Community Association Wakeman Road Bourne End, Bucks United Kingdom

If you would like us to host a workshop in your local area or community then email us and let us know: enquiries@photosreunited.com

Location Details: Click Here


More details: Click Here

www.photosreunited.com

Bourne End, Bucks - Photo Scanning Workshop Saturday, December 11

Pictorial memories of a proud City

Alton Douglas has been well known in the Midlands for many years as a radio entertainer and a television presenter of such shows as "Know Your Place". In recent years his carefully planned and researched series of unique pictorial books based on Midland historical themes have generated sales of over 300,000 copies, and earned him a loyal following. Each book contains between 350 and 400 illustrations, carefully captioned, and presented in a standard A4 format.

His books have produced a unique pictorial record of life in the Midlands across the different decades from the 1920's up to the more recent period of the 1960's.

 “Don't expect to find reams of facts and figures: these books are not intended to be in-depth history books but rather a series of random dips into the past. Possibly if something in it sparks off your imagination, it will point you in the direction of further research and I know, from personal experience, how enjoyable that can be”, says Alton

His latest title, recently released is called ‘Birmingham: More of the Sixties” contains over 350 captioned photographs and will no doubt cause a stir with some of the more mature Brummies with a chorus of “Oh Yes…I remember when it looked like that” and will also intrigue the curiosity of the younger generations who will be very interested to see what their proud City looked like 50 years ago and appreciate how its changed in those years.

Birmingham: More of the Sixties and copies of the full series of books can be purchased direct online from the Author, Alton Douglas website or from local booksellers and news agents.

Pictorial memories of a proud City

Old photos keep the memories alive

The 30^th January 1965 continues to remain one of the most vivid memories my 70 year old Father has today. It’s the day the country said farewell to Sir Winston Churchill and the day my Father had the honour of being one of the members of the Royal Naval gun team that led the carriage that carried Churchill's coffin through the streets of London as part of the funeral ceremony.

Over 320,000 people filed past the catafalque during the three days of lying-in-state. On the day of the funeral the route from Westminster Hall via St Paul’s Cathedral and on to the Thames at the Tower of London was lined with thousands of mourners who had come to pay their last respects.

My Father in the Navy at 17

Having joined the Navy at the age of 17 it was my father’s ambition to  become a career sailor and emulate the role models of his senior officers, many of whom had served during the Second World War.

Born during the Second World War, my father grew up in Birmingham and as a young boy he witnessed and relived many of the hardships of those years through the rationing and the stories told by his Mother and her friends. He also had the constant reminder of the destruction as he played with his friends among the bombed out ruins, as Birmingham slowly rebuilt itself.

“For my generation and that of my parents Churchill was a hero, the man that saved us during the war and so to find myself participating at his funeral was possibly the greatest honour I could have ever had”

Further recollections recall the preparations that were discreetly taking place in the streets of London even before the official announcement that Sir Winston Churchill had died.

“I don’t think anyone really knew what to expect on the day and I seem to recall concerns by some of the  senior officers as to what the correct protocols should be at certain stages of the duty and procession” my father continues, “but we were just naval ratings and so we just got on with the job we were given”.

The event drew crowds from across the whole country and was broadcast on television to millions of viewers around the world.

“My lasting memory of the day is of the silence of the crowds as we moved along the streets. We didn’t know what to expect but I don’t think I had expected it to have been as quite as it was”

My father looks at his photographs and smiles as he taps at a small black and white face in the parade, “That’s me, just there…”

My father (circled) as a member of the Gun carriage team.

 © Pete Boswell. All rights reserved

www.photosreunited.com

Useful Links:

BBC News - http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/30/newsid_2505000/2505981.stm

Old photos keep the memories alive

How to Organize Old Photos -eHow.com

Boxes of photos stacked in closets, negatives from a decade-old soccer games--old photos seem to lurk in the background, remembered occasionally in to-do lists and ambitious passing thoughts. But how to organize piles and piles of old photos without hiring a professional?

 

 

Instructions

1. Decide the scope of your project before your get started. When was the last time you tried to organize old photos? If it was before the dawn of digital cameras, you might even have old rolls of undeveloped film lying around. Decide if you've got the time and resources to organize them all at once, or just focus on the past five or ten years. If you have tons of photos, start with the oldest and move forward from there in stages when you have extra time.
   
2. Develop old rolls of film at a specialty camera store to ensure the best quality. Bring any old photos with you that need restoration and have those cleaned up or reprinted as well.
   
3. Ask for each roll to be developed and also made into a picture disk. If you're working with a digital camera, go through and delete the ones that aren't keepers. Make prints of the rest for the albums.
   
4. Buy several acid free photo albums that hold large quantities of photos. Also pick up a few photo storage boxes for the overflow, and a few CD wallets to keep back up disks.
   
5. Roll up your sleeves and dig in. Separate photos into piles according to when they were taken or based on the event they were taken for.
   
6. Get rid of all of the photos that aren't "keepers." There is no use holding on to hundreds of old photos that are blurry, have bad lighting, or are not memorable. Select the best ones from each pile and then discard the rest or give them away.
   
7. Slide the old photos into the album sleeves in chronological order. If you simply have too many great photos of one event for a single album, use a storage box and label the event on the outside. Place photos that seem to defy organization together into their own storage box and let that box become a catchall for miscellaneous photos.
   
8. Make back up disks of digital photos. Archive according to event or date and then use a CD wallet to hold them all in one place. Keep the photo wallet with your other albums and add to it as you archive future photos. If you do this as you go, the pictures won't pile up on your hard drive.

www.photosreunited.com

Read more: How to Organize Old Photos | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2086452_organize-old-photos.html#ixzz14DZSrFut

How to Organize Old Photos -eHow.com

An Unexpected Suprise...

At first glance these two photographs appear to show the same pair of sisters taken perhaps a few months apart. In actual fact they reveal pictures of sisters taken a generation a part! The two little girls in the left photograph are in fact the daughters of the younger girl seen clutching a monkey in the right hand picture.

While facial similarities between parents and their children are to be expected these astonishing photographs only recently came to light for the first time when the owner, the mother in this case, decided she wanted to digitise her old photographs so she could share them with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

“I was quite taken back when I saw these two photographs side by side for the first time, the similarities between myself and my own sister and my two daughters are quite startling and wonderful”, said Mrs Lines who went on to say “seeing them instantly brought back memories of both my own childhood and that of my own two girls”

Since these photographs were digitally scanned by Photos Reunited copies have been shared with members of their immediate family. Copies have also been sent via the Internet to the other taller girl seen holding a monkey in the photograph, who is the Aunt living in Canada with her own family.

How many other wonderful discoveries sit awaiting discovery in our old photo albums?

© Pete Boswell. All rights reserved

www.photosreunited.com

An Unexpected Suprise...