DIGITIZING PRINTS AND SLIDES

About a year ago I had 250 slides converted to digital files. I'd put it off for a long time because I was afraid to mail my slides anywhere. So nervous about sending off the only copy of something that could never be replaced if lost. So for a few years I went back and forth about it. Thought of doing it myself at home, but I knew I would have to set aside weeks to process everything. That just didn't appeal to me. I also knew that a lot of digital transfer places actually send the slides out of the country. That freaked me out all over again. I picked out about twenty choice slides and took them to National Camera in Minneapolis where they do the transfers onsite, but it was pretty expensive, and I knew there was no way I could afford to have them digitize 250 images. So after a lot of online research, I ended up settling on a place in New Jersey called Fotobridge. They were wonderful, and I highly recommend them. They let you know when your slides arrive, they let you know when they are being processed, they let you know when they've been shipped for the return journey. And they don't ship them to another country for the conversion. That was important to me. I think the whole process took about two weeks. Maybe a bit longer. Could have been closer to three from the time I mailed them until they arrived back at my door.

My plan had been to use the images to enhance blog posts about The Orchard, but I emailed a few images to my editor, and she suggested they use some in the digital version of The Orchard. They picked out about fifteen images that will be included at the end of the book.