Everyone has boxes, folders and drawers full of memorable–and not so memorable–old photos.
Ryan Tomazin is trying to help people organize them so they can enjoy them rather than just stuffing them away in closets.
The Bridgeville man started a scanning business in January 2011 that he hopes will help people organize their old photos and help historical societies categorize thousands of records and pictures.
“My job is to help them preserve their memories,” Tomazin said. “You link people together more.”
Tomazin is currently volunteering his time to help the archive thousands of photos, documents and other information so they can easily find them with an easy keyword search. He’s seen other area historical societies or genealogy groups that have so much information but no way to organize them.
“They have all this stuff and it just sits there in boxes,” Tomazin said. “All of their history is just sitting in boxes.”
Although a big part of Tomazin’s business is aimed at saving major documents, he’s also focused on helping families keep photos to view for years or preserve from disaster.
He’s also seen how slideshows converted onto DVDs or CDs have rekindled lost memories. He recently scanned his mother’s photos and watched them with her sisters.
“We just sat there and watching the thousand of pictures on one clip on the TV,” he said. “My aunts went through looking at the photos and most of them they had never seen them before.”
He thinks many other people have similar experiences with those memories. He said his scans are affordable for anyone who wants to preserve their family photos.
“People have so much stuff,” he said. “Everyone has old photos and now so many people are on Facebook. They want to share their memories. I’m trying to do something that is affordable for people and done locally so they can see the results.”
Tomazin lives and works in Bridgeville and can be reached for an appointment by calling 412-220-9726 or emailing him at tomazinscanning@yahoo.com.
You can also view some of his work by clicking on his website at www.tomazinscanning.com.
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