Sometimes I think, as someone who started his life in 1970 and actively engaged with photography, from the year 1986 I have had far too many changes in my profession and in everyday life surroundings.
The digital revolution in photography does not even have the be mentioned. Just like everything else, it was a major change into the digital age. As a part of that the way we conduct our businesses has also changed. Our habits, social life, way of learning, entertainment, spend… the list goes on and on.
That is why I think it is too many changes for one generation. The one who started the life with no computers and ended up in a totally different world.
No matter how terrible the suffering for the old generation, in Edmonton Print & Photo Centre (the one and only!) we always try to be ahead of the game by bringing a change in our services and offering the very best to our customers.
As most of our customers are aware, we offer a DVD transfer service and it is highly popular. There are still too many of those VHS, 8 mm and mini DV tapes lying around in our houses somewhere, and someday we come to a point when we decide to give them a life again, with our courage, willingness, and desire to uncover those old memories
It is so astonishing, but yes, we have recorded our memories on those tapes and they were once connected to tv sets to be watched over again and again. That was just before we got a little bored and put them away. Too precious to go completely out of sight, too much to be kept on our shelves, all the time before we realised they were simply placed in a box, with the assurances in our heads that they are safe somewhere and can be accessed if needed until the day we are ready to embrace our past.
Nothing compares to watch childhood memories, special occasions of ourselves, or of our loved ones. It is one of the most extraordinary feelings one can ever have. It is one of the moments where we have a test of our existence in time and universe. Something belongs to us, as real as the media it is recorded on, yet vanishing from our memories. Just as real as we remember, experiencing the same emotions of the past as we watch it.
It is a gift of time
Ironically taken away from us by its perpetrator.
Maybe it is when we realised we are divided with our precious memories because of that wall built about a decade ago before we act to give them a second life.
In Edmonton Print & Photo Centre, we do convert old tapes into DVDs and will further our plans to offer straight to digital MP4 files soon.
We have realised that DVD and CDs are also becoming a thing of the past. New computers don’t even have a CD/DVD drive. As the fast track of technologic advances, they will be just another casualty to be replaced by MP4 digital files. So, we have decided to introduce an old tape transfer to MP4 service.
Watch this space.
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