Picture This

A Safe, Reasonably Priced Solution For Digitizing Your Old Photos And VHS Tapes from our friends at Netted.


Unless you were born after the creation the Mosaic browser odds are you have old photos and VHS tapes that need to be digitized to be of any use to humanity.

Those without endless amounts of time and patience (or a scanner) should consider outsourcing the task to Scan Digital, a video and film conversion service based in California.

As a first step you ship them your old photos, videos and film reels. There’s $10 charge for two-way shipping (once paid you can print the UPS shipping labels).

Because these are one of kind objects they offer a service called “Essential Tracker,” so you can be sure your goods are safe during transit.

They’ll sort everything out and get to work. This includes cropping, color correcting and removing dust, blemishes and red eye (and, of course, the actual digitizing).

A week later they’ll mail back the originals along with DVDs that contain all your old memories. They’ll also create an online gallery, which makes it easy to share (and provides a back up in case you lose the DVDs).

Photos start at 48 cents (for a 300 dpi version). Videos (including VHS, mini DV and even Betamax) are $19.95 per cassette. And film transfer costs 28 cents per foot.

But, of course, being able to share that long lost footage of you in your college-era punk band on Facebook is priceless.
Visit Scan Digital

Canon Powershot S90 tutorial

Our pal and fellow camera gangster/photography nerd, Jamesie, was talking about Canon’s fancy new, RAW-capable P&S at brunch last Sunday.

He covets it.

Some of us here at photopol.us do too.

Friday Art Star: Havi Frost

Havi Frost grew up in the Northwest and eventually found herself in Dallas, Texas where she currently resides. She is a curator for Kettle Art Gallery in Deep Ellum and is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at University of Texas in Arlington.

Havi’s photographic style is narrative, yet abstract. Her childhood fascination with puzzles carries over into her conceptual photography where she plays with symbolism and numerology as well as light and shadows to create a story for the viewer to discern. We talked to her a bit about her techniques and ideology on photography, and would like to share her thoughts with you…..

When did you become interested in photography?

I don’t have a specific answer for this. I used to run around after my second brother, shooting him with disposable cameras when I was in my early teens. When I got enough money together, I bought a Canon A1 from a friend.. and a few years later I bought my first digital camera – a Canon 10D. I wouldn’t say I was always into photography, though. My interest came and went as I pursued some of life’s crazy experiences. I suppose most people could say the same.

What are your thoughts on film vs digital?

I think the whole debate is silly. It’s like the Nikon vs Canon debate. As long as you’re able to get what you’re wanting, then it’s all good. There are pros and cons to both and personally, I enjoy both. However, it’s not cost effective for me to work with film and I’m definitely an instant-gratification kinda girl.

Do you do very much post production? What photo editing tools do you use?

It depends on the shoot. If it’s an art project, I rarely do any digital manipulation. I prefer to work the shoot in camera. When I need to do digital imaging work I use Photoshop and Lightroom. For my art pieces, I do a lot of work post-print depending on the image.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Life is inspiration, but the most vital for me is my mister! 🙂

Samples of Havi Frost’s Work