After five years and nearly 1 million photos saved, we’ve learned a thing or two about organizing, digitizing and foreverizing photos. Along the way, people began referring to Ann and I as their “Pixologist!”
A little background. . . Bob and Sue had a full-on photo mess with a walk-in close with 55 photo albums, boxes, portraits and envelopes. After removing the photos and removing duplicates and repetitive photos, we had about 9,000 photos to scan. After scanning the photos, each of their seven adult children received a jump drive. They received their photos back in archival boxes.
Because of our business name, Pixologie, Bob, simply amazed, said “You are my Pixologist.” For years, I resisted the title, but recently Bob referred a 79-year-old retired attorney to us. When she called, she stated, “I need a Pixologist, too!” Gen ended up having far more photos than Bob. She also had thousands of slides and negatives, thirty reels of film and more.
So, what makes a person a Pixologist?
Good question. Over the years, we have helped organize nearly 1 million photos. If you show us a photo, we can offer you three immediate things to do with the photo. “Toss it, Save It, Share It.” Sounds simple, but this is difficult to actually do with the hundreds and thousands of photos people accumulate!
In my mind, a Pixologist demonstrates the following characteristics:
- Knows how to organize photos efficiently and frugally (i.e. saving 15-20 of the 100 in a stack)
- Understands what photos will best preserve stories, traditions and values for next generations
- Teaches people how to organize and save their own photos
- Offers photo organization, digitization and archival tools that he/she has personally tested
- Provides custom solutions based on a person’s technological know-how, time and financial resources
- Optional – Works with family film and video preservation
In short, a Pixologist is an expert in the field of photo and media organization and an expert in memory preservation. He or she has put in countless hours of work in the field and can answer most any question related to how to save a photo, slide, negative, piece of memorabilia, family film and video and so much more.
Here’s a link to some of the tools we think you’ll find useful. . . click here.
That is why we are starting the “Ask a Pixologist” blog where we will answer the basic questions that people have about their photos. If you have a topic idea for us, send us an email at [email protected].
Your Pixologists
Mollie Bartelt – [email protected]
See Mollie’s books on Amazon.com
Ann Matuszak – [email protected]