Scanning Slides and Saving Memories

I turned 50 years old a couple of months ago. It has been the only birthday "number" that has bothered me so far. To be honest, it was being 49 and turning 50 that bugged me the most. In my case, I became nostalgic. I started going through pictures of my family and friends reliving the days gone by. The problem was, no photos of me when I was very young . . . where were they all? I asked my mother once where and if there were any pictures around of when I was a child . . . her answer, "oh yes, there are plenty but they are all on 35mm Slides."

All of the memories of my youth are on slides, no one has a slide projector or a screen and you really can't get a good view of the pictures by holding them up to the light. My mom told me that my father (who worked for Eastman Kodak) was convinced that having the photo's processed as slides was the "way of the future".

The answer to my dilemma was this, I bought an Epson 35mm Slide Scanner and began scanning all of the old slides - I have had so much fun reliving these memories. Scanning slides is a very time consuming, tedious process. You have to dust off each slide manually and can only scan 4 slides at a time and then adjust them with the photo editing software that comes with the scanner. I don't know if it is the need to enjoy and remember my past but I am actually having fun with this crazy project. Not to mention when I have all these pictures digitally, I will be able to make some great DVD's of family memories to give out as Christmas Presents. There are companies that will scan your 35mm slides for you (Image Audio) but for me scanning them myself was the way to go.