Irvine business offers free help for preserving old photographs

Rummage the attic, excavate old shoeboxes and search anyplace else you can for those photographs long-lost and tucked away from the light of day, urges ScanMyPhotos.com, which has gleaned attention for its super-fast digital scanners.

Now, the company has given January the nickname “National Photo Preservation Month” and is dedicating the entire 31 days to the cause. As part of the grand event, ScanMyPhotos has extended its free Web-based help desk at blog.scanmyphotos.com to answer folks’ questions about preserving of “analog” film photos (as opposed to digital ones), which tend to fade and degrade over time.

“The demand to digitize pictures is mandated by the span of time which leads many older photos to fade away or become misplaced,” said company founder/president/CEO Mitch Goldstone in a press release. “The month-long NPPM campaign will also help connect entire families with their past, as they revisit, share and create new ways to preserve and have fun with their snapshots.”

Via Goldstone, here are some tips for making the most of the month:

1. Collect all your old (non-copyrighted) photos. Get your entire family and circle of friends involved as a treasure hunt to track down those Polaroid snapshots, shoeboxes of pictures and photos stacked away in draws and on closet shelves.
   
2. Use your favorite social networking website, from MySpace, Twitter, FaceBook, Blogger and others to ask your relatives and friends to find those old (non-copyrighted) school pictures, vacation shots, wedding and other special occasion photo memories.
   
3. Share your stories. Write to local newspapers and blog about your experience as you revisit those special photo memories. Once your photos are digitized, tag each one with descriptive messages and narratives. Write a story about who was in the picture and note something special about the person, scene or event so future generations can keep those memories alive.
   
4. Keep the momentum going. According to reports by ScanMyPhotos.com customers, the average household has about 5,000 photo snapshots. Once the pictures are pooled together, get it scanned. There are a variety of photo scanning services available, from independent photo imaging retail labs to high-volume, bulk scanning services like ScanMyPhotos.com
   
5. Share your story and ask the experts for help to preserve your photos. As part of NPPM, the ScanMyPhotos.com website is extending is free Live Support Help Desk to assist with instant answers to questions on how to preserve and digitize your photos. Profiles recounting how people are preserving their photos will be posted at "blog.ScanMyPhotos.com" and gathered to share with tech, consumer and lifestyle reporters.