About Us and Me
Born in the early sixties, I arrived on the scene at tail end of the Baby Boom. Like many of that era, still images of my childhood were captured on 35mm slides, their delivery eagerly awaited from the moment the film was dropped in the mailbox on its way to Kodak for development.
The results were invariably mixed. Great shots were interspersed with photographed thumbs, over- and under-exposures, and faces washed out by a flash bright enough to leave the subjects blinded for a day. But there sure were some gems.
On Sundays after dinner my dad would often haul out the wobbly screen which refused to unfurl properly, the projector which jammed regularly and proudly announce “We’re going to watch some slides”!! I always looked forward to helping my dad with the setup of the grand production, although that announcement was also the signal for others to scurry for the exits.
As fun as they were to watch on those Sunday evenings, they, and the memories they evoked always returned to their boxes to be stashed away, gradually forgotten over time.
At some point in my mid-forties, I was somehow anointed as the family historian. I’m not sure if this was an official decision reached with consulting me, but suddenly everyone started giving me the boxes of slides and films and photos that they had accumulated over the years (I think they just wanted them out of their basements and garages). And into MY basement and garage they went….. and waited.
Fast forward to 2016, when a trip to visit family prompted me to dust them off, go through them and have about 150 of the best ones scanned at a photo shop (for an outrageous sum of money). We brought them to Fredericton and had a slide show for my aging aunt and my Uncle Bob, my father’s twin brother, who was in failing health. The slide show was a smash hit and put smiles on everyone’s faces. My uncle was thrilled and so happy to relive all those old memories one more time.
And since then, I have always wondered how many people also have years of memories that are forgotten in the boxes in their garage. Pictures, movies and videos that have not been enjoyed in years and in many cases, never seen by the younger generations of the family.
During a recent medical leave from my day job, I found myself with the time to sort and scan all 3500-ish of my dad’s slides and share them through online sites with my family. The response was overwhelmingly positive and heartfelt.
And so now I am making it my mission to help others to unlock the joy that my family rediscovered by organizing, reproducing, and preserving those memories on modern media for their families to enjoy for years to come.
Welcome to Souvenirs Presérvés. “We’re going to watch some slides” !!!
GW