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A Family Photo Archive: Digitising Old Family Photos

Who hasn’t got a box of old family photos lying around? Most families have one, somewhere. Sadly, many sit waiting to be looked at until the last people who can tell you who is in them have left us.

As with so many things, the best time to look at those old photographs is now. Get them out and look at them with your oldest generation while you can – and make some notes of who is who. Most important too, copy them – digitise them, and label or name the files so that future generations aren’t left in the dark.

In a previous blog piece I wrote about my brother in law’s work digitising VHS, slides and negatives. Through him, I can do those too. But this week is all about those ancient prints!

My great-grandfather and his staff at South Croydon Sainsbury’s, around 1900

My maternal grandparents on their wedding day, 1932

Digitising old family photos is not only about preserving the images, and preserving the information that goes with them, but for sharing. Families grow. In the image of my grandparents’ wedding here you see one moment captured from a day that would, by 2024, have led to almost 100 descendants. All of us have a claim on this image – but there aren’t that many original copies! Digitising old family photos means sharing and making available right across a large family, for printing and for the enjoyment of all. It is simply a fantastic thing to be able to do!

Incidentally, this photo shows the value of the classic group shot in wedding photography. A simply posed, straightforward record of the bridal party, or, as here, of the bridal party and parents. Irreplaceable, invaluable and essential.

For prints I know it is possible to use a scanner and get good results. But sometimes the glossiness of the photo can cause problems. I find that I get best results by using my highest resolution camera with macro lenses. The results are big, detailed files, sucking every last bit of available detail out of the old photos.

Given a really good quality file to work from, I can then work on repairing damage to the image where it has been scraped, folded or stained. This photo of my grandfather as a small boy with his family was not in great shape. I have been able to get a lot out of it – though damage over Auntie Grace’s face was pretty severe.

My paternal grandfather with his parents and sister, Grace
Around 1914 

My mum on the beach with her siblings

You can’t make a bad photograph into a good one – but any photograph is better than none when it comes to the past! This shot of my mother and her siblings on the beach at Bexhill is fairly fuzzy – but with a bit of (automatic) colourisation, it brings a happy day in the early 50s back to life.

I have had a fair project on with my own old family photos – but I am a professional family photographer and I have to offer these services to other families! If you have photos that need archiving – preserving and sharing – please contact me via my Contact Form, my email address Andrew@AndrewKingPhotography.co.uk , or send a text to 07983 787889 . 

Carpenters at Bartley and Ward (now Ballard and Shortall), Crawley
One of my great-grandfathers was the foreman – to the right in this photo
Around 1900

Do you have old family photos that need digitising? I’m here to help!

For all photography enquiries, please click here!

Photos © copyright Andrew King

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