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Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The NEW Christmas Cards!

Have you noticed how many Christmas cards you receive that are photographed and created by mom?  Wonderful photos taken in the backyard, while on vacation, or by the tree?  It wasn’t that long ago that the only way to get holiday portraits on your greeting cards was to go to a portrait studio.  Times have changed as Mom’s are taking great photos, and getting creative with their cards! 

Portrait studios need to offer new and exciting products that will keep families coming to the studio for those special occasions!

Many HoldMyMemories.com studios can now create these innovative "digital greetings" from your portrait sessions.  The mix of video and still photos, with dynamic music in the background, add a new dimension to Holiday memory sharing.  Check out my family’s latest portrait session and the video that the studio created for us. 

We still send out the traditional Christmas Cards to our friends and relatives, but my wife and I also shared this video greeting on our facebook pages, and sent out as an email to our friends and family that are not on any of the social networking sites.

The videos can also be shared on facebook or any number of other social networking sites.  Check out our facebook fan page to see what the video player looks like in facebook.  Also check out the post from Monday, November 14th to see how you can display any of your HoldMyMemories.com galleries in a unique coverflow format.

Click here to go to our facebook fan page.

How is your family sending out holiday greetings this year?


Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Backup!

How do you backup your memories?  We have all heard stories about hard drives crashing, and losing all those irreplaceable files!  Most of us have some backup system in place, but how often do we actually back up?

I store all my favorite photos and videos on HoldMyMemories.com–this is also the program I use to share those memories.  You can use HoldMyMemories.com to hold all your files, or just your favorites.  Personally I take a lot of photos and videos–and put just my favorites on HoldMyMemories.
 
But what do you do with your other files–documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc?  In the past I would email myself my documents, and keep one copy at home, and one at work–that was somewhat laborious!  
 
Today  I use a program called Carbonite.  I spend about $55 dollars a year, and it backs up all the files I need backed up–automatically.  All my Word documents, spreadsheets, and other items are backed up at night–I don’t have to worry about it.  Carbonite will backup everything on your computer, regardless of how much you have.
 
This morning I received a coupon for 50% off Carbonite–a one year subscription for $27.47.  THIS IS A GREAT VALUE for the peace of mind you will get!  Check it out at Carbonite.com.  If you decide to sign up, use coupon code CUST50 (by December 31st) to get your subscription at half price.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Catch Some Family History This Thanksgiving!

With the holidays coming, catch some video of loved ones in your family. I caught a few minutes with my grandmother not too long ago. She recently passed away–I am so thankful I took the time to capture some memories–something to share with my family, and a remembrance for my children.  It only takes a few minutes, you don’t need fancy equipment–use your point-and-shoot camera, your cell phone, your video camera…

Catch some family history this holiday–you will be glad you did.

 


Wednesday, November 18, 2009
“On Location Photography”, with a Twist!

Many or our HMM Studios can now COME TO YOU for your portrait needs!  They can also produce a video of your session to share with family and friends through your HoldMyMemories.com account, or through most of other social networking accounts.  See a few examples below of some fun "on location" sessions: 

        

Click here to find a HoldMyMemories.com Studio near you:  HMM  Studio Locater


Friday, November 6, 2009
Top Ten Dos and Don’ts

I came across this EXCELLENT video of "Dos and Don’ts" for Photographers.  Whether you are a student with a cell phone camera, a dad with a "point and shoot", or a mom with a high end digital camera, these tips are a great education in how to take better photos.  As an experienced photographer I watched this an just kept nodding my head.  Erin did a great job.  Watching this very short video will improve anyone’s photography.  If you are new mom, and just starting to take more photos of your family, this is a "must see" short tutorial!  (this video may take a moment to load)

 


Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A Favorite Memory Each Year

Halloween is one of the kids favorite Holidays! A great way to capture the memory of Halloween is with photos and videos–mix them together, and you have a fun three minute video that your family will enjoy looking back on for years to come! Watch the video below below to see what a HoldMyMemories.com studio can help you put together.

There are many software programs out there that can help you create a video from your photos and videos, and they are unbelievably easy to use.  The one above was created with a program called Muvee.  It mixes photos and videos, but my favorite part of the program is that it can pick out the best parts of your video automatically.  You don’t have to do it!  For the video above, I put in my favorite photos from last Halloween, and several minutes of video, and the program automatically edited to what you see above.

Let us know if you have any questions or need help preserving your memories.


Friday, October 16, 2009
Just Two More Weeks Left to Enter!

HoldMyMemories.com presents "That’s My Baby, 2009" photo and video contest.  Open to ages newborn to two years. 

No purchase necessary.  Enter your photo from an HMM studio, or enter a photo of your own.  Great prizes, including a $1,000 US Savings Bond to the Photo Contest winner.  Great prizes to the video oontest winner too!

Enter your child and tell your friends with children!

For more information visit www.HoldMyMemories.com

Check out the contest page to vote for your favorite:  http://www.holdmymemories.com/contests/phase2_contest


Tuesday, October 13, 2009
A Great Video Created by a HoldMyMemories.com Studio

A GREAT video of twins Mathew and Mason from one of our HoldMyMemories.com studios. Check out how the studio mixes video and portraits. 

There are many programs out there that will allow you to create cool video mixes like this with your personal images and videos.  (Add a comment if you need suggestions or have any questions on how to do this yourself.)

If you can watch this video and not smile, we’ll buy you lunch!

 


Monday, October 5, 2009
My New Toy

I waited a long time before making the jump.  I heard everyone talking about it.  I saw everyone walking around with one–but I waited…

Still, I knew I would eventually get one, but I was waiting for that one feature, the one that was important to me, the one that was my "killer app"……video recording.  I have kids, I love capturing video as well as photos of them.  I told myself when "it" recorded video, I would get one.

Earlier this year Apple announced that the new iPhone would capture video.  This is what I was waiting for.  To me, those precious memories that occur every day in our lives go "uncaptured" far too often.  I LOVE that I now ALWAYS have my video camera with me.  I can catch my kids being precious kids in ways I would have missed before.  I didn’t always have my "point and shoot" camera with me to put in video mode, I didn’t always have my Flip Video Camera with me, but I do always have my cell phone with me–and now I always have my video camera.

Check out the blog entry below "This One is for Mom" (Sept 19th).  Had I not had my video camera iPhone with me, I would have missed this very special moment.  The end melted Mom’s heart.

This video below too–I came home from work and Jacob was outside showing off his pride and joy–he just lost his first tooth!  If I didn’t have my cell phone with me, I would have missed this moment:

Other cell phones capture video, I have had several of them, but the functionality of the iPhone makes it so much easier to use–and "easy" means you will use it more often.

Photo quality outside is pretty good.  It is kind of weak for indoor photos (there are many photo "apps" out there that will help adjust/correct your photos).  The phone really needs a flash.  I imagine that Apple could have put one on the iPhone, as several other manufacturers have, but then I wouldn’t have a reason to upgrade when the new phones come out NEXT year!

Then there are the many apps that are out there–I have my favorites, but that is an entry for another day!


Friday, October 2, 2009

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