Preserving Memories

Works For Me Wednesday


A part of my "reversed New Year's Resolution" was to have a digital back up of my wedding photos incase anything every happened to them. I know it feels like digital photos have been around forever, but if you have any memories that were photographed 8 or more years ago, chances are they are on film. You might want to consider scanning the film or the photos and making a photo CD.

Perhaps you have scanner at home that works for you That's probably the easiest route, but if you are like me and you are not happy with the quality of your home scanner or you don't own one then don't worry, you do have other options.

I went to 3 different stores searching for the best most economical way to have my wedding photos burned to a CD, and here is the run through of my experience.

CVS- They told me that there was no possible way for me to put my photos on a CD. I could scan and print or I could have a CD of digital photos, but that is all. I am sure all stores are different, but I was entirely disappointed with this particular stores service.

Walgreen's- Walgreen's charged $7.00 for me to scan and burn a CD and they only allowed a maximum of 24 photos on a CD. Then they wanted me to come back after several hours to pick up my CD. To me this was a complete rip off and in the end the 24 photos I did scan were low resolution and way too dark, I could have done this at home.

Walmart- I actually went back two different times to get what I needed, but in the end Walmart was what "worked for me"

The first time I used a Kodak scanning machine that would scan 20 photos at a time. This was such a convenient option for me having over a hundred photos. The problem was that the photos had green streaks across the print. One of the employees tried to clean the scanner, but it still didn't help. You may not be able to see the lines in this photo, but they were pretty obvious, so that didn't work.

My second try was another kodak machine that let you scan each one individually. This was very time consuming, but I was pleased with the quality and they allowed me to put over 100 photos on a CD. I didn't have to leave and come back like I did at Walgreen's and it is was only $3.00.

Going from store to store was quite a hassle, but I hope my experience helps anyone considering scanning there own photos. In the end it was all worth it to have my precious memories preserved and ready to edit, enlarge, and reprint.


*As a photographer I am well aware of the copyright laws. My wedding photos were not professional and therefore I was able to make duplicates. In order to duplicate any photos they must either be taken free of charge or have signed permission in a copyright release form.