FotoBridge | Digitizing Photos Blog

Big adventure on the high seas has come in many forms throughout history. For Bob and Nancy Griffith, it had been a way of life that put them in the record books and made them part of modern seafaring legend.

Starting in 1959, Dr. Robert Lyle Griffith started a series of round-the-world voyages with his wife Nancy and son Reid. The first circumnavigation was aboard the Awahnee I, which was latter lost on a reef near the Tuamotu Islands, the largest of the Tahiti-Polynesian archipelagoes, while on a rescue mission for an American yacht. That first voyage was east to west around the Horn and Cape of Good Hope.

The family's second circumnavigation was aboard their self-built, ferro-cement cutter the Awahnee II and was east bound via Japan. The third trip was also aboard that vessel, and was a southernly route around Antarctica from New Zealand with stops at the American, English, Russian, Chilean and Argentine scientific outpost stations. They roughly followed the course of Captain James Cook, the first to circumnavigate the Antarctic. During the voyage, Captain Cook's 205-year-old journal was kept aboard and read aloud by Nancy as they followed his track. The circumnavigation had taken 111 days (the fastest on record and following a route never before attempted by a pleasure craft), 84 of which were sailing days and 27 of which were in port or partial sailing days.

As one might imagine, the Griffith's have a treasure-trove of wild stories and perilous tales from their many adventures on the high seas. From shipwrecks to being thrown overboard into shark-infested waters, they survived and thrived under challenges and odysseys  most of us only read about. Fortunately, the Griffith's were not only expert sailors but photographers that captured the images of their voyages on high-quality Kodachrome slide film.

"We were delighted to be awarded the project to digitally convert and preserve this large, highly-valued collection of photos from the Griffith family archives" said Julie Morris, President of FotoBridge, a New Jersey-based photo scanning service . FotoBridge digitized thousands upon thousands of spectacular images from 35mm slides dating back the the 1950s. "The resulting images were fantastic, due largely to the excellent exposures, the archival qualities of the films used and the FotoBridge digital capture processes and systems", added Ms. Morris.

In 1972, Bob Griffith was awarded the prestigious Blue Water Medal by the Cruising Club of America. In bestowing the award, the late John Parkinson, commented, "In all my years of serving on this committee, in my opinion we have never had a recipient so deserving of this honor". After nearly 200,000 miles under sail, Bob and Nancy Griffith wrote and published Blue Water: A Guide to Self-Reliant Sailboat Cruising

 

NOTE: Images and information source, Blue Water via insidemystery.org

Most of us don’t really mean to welcome clutter into our lives, but balancing a busy work, family, and social life usually leaves organizing, especially photo organizing, dangling at the bottom of our mental to do list. Thankfully, these tasks generally just require a bit of discipline, but in other cases, the job calls for the help of a Personal Photo Organizer (PPO).

With the popularity and affordability of digital cameras and camera phones, many of us are sitting on a virtual heap of digital images. Combine that with all of those hard copies we always meant to stick in an album and suddenly we’re in over our heads. This is exactly where your PPO comes in! With a PPO, you’re not just getting sticky notes and labeled boxes, you’re enlisting the help of someone dedicated to telling your story.

Through images, words and creativity, there’s  much you can expect from a PPO:

• Highly personalized, one-on-one consultations

• Brainstorm sessions on how best to tell a story for a special event or gift

• Help in implementing a customized system for organizing your current and future catalogue of photos

• Advice on digitizing photos or how to select the best photo scanning service

• Training in digital photo management basics

• Creatively designed photo books, scrapbooks, and visual storyboards

Basically, a PPO will collaborate with you on everything from setting up a digital catalogue to an unforgettable gift for your parents’ 25^th anniversary. You can find an Association of Personal Photo Organizers (Appo) Certified PPO in your area here.

The Association of Personal Photo Organizers (Appo) provides support and education for entrepreneurs looking to build a photo organizing business, and educates the public on the need for photo organizing services. To learn more, visit appo.org.

Cathy Church is one of the foremost underwater photographers, authors and teachers of our time. For nearly 45 years, she has been capturing the diversity and other-worldly beauty of the undersea world. Together with her late husband, Jim Church, she authored well over 200 articles for prominent diving publications, wrote four underwater photography books (including the Nikonos Handbook), and has produced video guides to underwater photography. She has been accumulating awards and accolades for years. Including induction into the Woman Divers Hall of Fame and being selected to receive the prestigious NOGI award for the arts.

Her latest book,  My Underwater Photo Journey (with forward by Jean-Michel Cousteau, Ocean Futures Society) is a must-have for both expert and aspiring underwater photographers. The ingenious aspect of this book is that it fulfills a dual purpose rarely found in even world-class publications.  It delivers both a super high quality, hard-back photo book suitable for display with over 250 spectacular shots and many extras....AND lessons for each and every photo, detailing the equipment and techniques used to create each shot.  Truly a unique artistic and educational value.

Today, Cathy continues to write and teach underwater photography from her base in the Cayman Islands where she also manages  "Cathy Church's Underwater Photo Center & Gallery" and she conducts underwater photo tours throughout the South Pacific.

It's never too early to plan ahead! So check out the FotoBridge round-trip delivery schedule for the Holidays and enjoy the season of giving.



CHRISTMAS

The center of gravity in the photography world moved to New York City's Javits Convention Center this past weekend.  Photographers, equipment manufacturers, service providers and others converged to gather, talk, see and learn about the newest developments and products in photography and imaging. The conference and expo started Thursday and concluded Saturday and included a huge exhibit floor with hundreds of exhibitors, thousand of new products, and sessions and seminars on a variety photo-business topics.

PhotoPlus is considered by many as one of the most important events in the photography industry. It attracts both professionals and passionate amateurs interested in the latest advances in photography. Seminars were open to all attendees (for an additional fee) and given by some of the world's foremost photographers and imaging experts.

From it's base in Washington D.C. and offices in Brussels, Belgium - the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) has been representing the world's leading aviation manufacturers for nearly 40 years. It's critical role is to advance the interests, safety, and activities of general aviation on behalf of airplane, engine, and avionics manufacturers.

"We selected FotoBridge to digitize years of company 35mm slides and photographic prints (a 15,000+ legacy image collection).  Throughout the entire process, we were most impressed with Fotobridge's exceptional customer service.  They were always prompt to respond, provide frequent status updates and are a pleasure to work with." - Rachel Gilbert, GAMA

General aviation includes all aviation with the exception of military and commercial airlines. It plays an important role in economic growth and represents one of the most important and dynamic industries on the globe. In 2006, general aviation contributed over $150B and $53B to the US economy in output and wages (respectively, including direct, indirect and induced). General aviation also supported 1.2M jobs during the same period.