Think for a moment: If your house was on fire, what would you try to save? Your loved ones. Pets. Perhaps some prized art. Jewels. Definitely your family photos.
Are they organized? Easily accessible? How many of us have randomly stored boxes jammed with photos or old faded albums stashed high on the shelf? These irreplaceable images tell the stories of grandparents and childhoods, adventures and achievements, memories and milestones – life’s defining moments. Organizing our family’s photographic life history is a requisite project we all intend to take on, but then time slips by, the numbers multiply, and the thought of organizing thousands of photos seems like a Herculean task.
Welcome to LightSource.
Longtime Marin County resident Sam Hoffman has just the solution for you. He has spent his career in the world of photography, printmaking, and digitizing. It’s in his DNA. He started out in the mid-70s at Iris Images, a state-of-the-art photo lab in Mill Valley named for the ancient Greek Goddess of the rainbow. A dedicated entrepreneur, he then cofounded two film processing labs in San Francisco. His 1980s venture called NewLab stood out as one of the largest film processing labs on the West Coast certified to process Kodachrome.
But as the landscape of photography evolved, so did he.
“In 2009, I started LightSource in San Francisco with the intent of providing the highest quality archival inkjet printing possible to artists, photographers, designers and art consultants,” explains Hoffman. But with the advent of digital photography, another business model appeared that expanded his business further.
While photography has its roots in the 1840s, by 2005, digital photography overshadowed film cameras. By 2008, over 90% of all photos taken were in a digital format. From that point on most of our photos and memories live in our phones, but what about those shoeboxes and photo albums filled with prints?
“The emotional connection to family photos is huge,” shares Sam. “But how often do people really take out their old albums entombed in boxes in the attic to share memories and family histories? Gen Z and Millennials share their phone photos and are not attracted to the old-fashioned way of seeing albums. As a result, vital memories from the older generation to the younger one are infrequently shared.”
Sam and his team decided to remedy this situation by creating the ultimate digital legacies for their clients.
“Photos are considered the crown jewels of the family because it’s the only place where the heritage of the family is chronicled. It’s critical to preserve these histories for generations to come,” he adds.
LightSource helps their clients understand the organization, process and options for digitizing and storing photos.
A high-resolution, medium format, 100-megapixel camera and crossed polarized lights are used to create top quality images. Once completed, your TIFF and JPG files (for print and online sharing respectively) are placed in organized labeled folders and uploaded onto hard drives for both use and back up. Your digital legacy can also be delivered to an iPad with an index of your collection for immediate accessible viewing, particularly easy and convenient for multigenerational sharing of memories where you can zoom in on any photo with a swipe of a finger.
Preserving your precious memories and family legacy no longer has to be a daunting process. The digital experts at LightSource will organize and extend the life of your treasured photos and memorabilia, so all you have to do is enjoy them with your friends and family, knowing you have preserved history for generations to come.
1661 Tennessee St. #2W, San Francisco, CA 94107 | 415-621-1448 | studio@lightsourcesf.com | LightSourceSF.com
