Setting An Audacious Goal – 250,000 Photos Saved!

Posted on September 24, 2015 by pixologie

By Ann Matuszak

Goals. We all have them, personal and professional. Goals. We set them frequently, achieve them more sporadically. If you have truly set a goal, then you don’t quit until you achieve it and if necessary you bring in the support you need to make it happen.

Pixologie is known for setting big goals, in fact, we call them Audacious Goals. On the cusp of Save Your Photos Day, Pixologie and Friends is inviting everyone in the Photo Organization, Family Story Telling and Photography world to join us on achieving a truly Audacious Goal. In the next 10 days, we want to save, preserve and protect 250,000 photos by scanning and digitizing them.

As reported by Gary Pageau in PMA, a recent study by Kodak Alaris found that fully one-third of British smartphone users have lost photos and that 46% of them are worried about accessing their photos in the future. As members of the Association of Photo Organizers (APPO) and one of the founding members of the Save Your Photos Alliance, we are committed to offering solutions for these realistic fears. We all know that photos matter. Photos connect, inspire, enrich and celebrate lives.

With the power of our Kodak Alaris Picture Saver Scanner PS50 and PS80, we are ready to get to work. Well, to be honest, we have already done 20,000+ but we are just getting started!

We are thrilled to have Pixcel, PixologieCarolinas, PixologieTeam and E-Z Photo Scan already committed to sharing their numbers. Want to be part of an Audacious Goal? Join in by scanning a photo, back it up in two places, save it to offsite storage like Reflectera or Forever and then get on board by sharing your scanning numbers using #Audacious Goals in your social media posts or emailing me – annm@pixologieinc.com!

We will collect numbers thru October 4^th and post the total on October 5^th. Scan a photo; save a story. Scan 1,000 photos; save a family history. Every single one matters. Ready to blow the lid off an Audacious Goal? Let’s start scanning!

Growing Our Mission While Increasing Awareness for Someone Else’s

Posted on February 7, 2015 by pixologie

AKA: We’ve Joined the World of Crowdfunding!

Pixologie is officially a year and a half old! Wow – what a ride the last eighteen months has been. We’ve been able to help hundreds of people sort, save and share hundreds of thousands of moments. We are passionate about our mission to help people save and tell the stories found in their photos.

However, with that kind of growth comes increasing amounts of work and need for additional resources! We are taking our business to a whole new level with a loan request through the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC). Not only does WWBIC offer potential loans to small businesses, their team offers relevant advice, encouragement and guidance along with an extensive list of classes and workshops. Their team members have visited with us twice and are amazing business advisors and cheerleaders.

As part of our larger work with WWBIC, they have recommended we apply for a crowdfunding type loan through Kiva Zip who provides 0% interest loans to entrepreneurs doing good things. We applied for a $5,000 loan and so far have had over 30 individuals support us with as little as a $5 loan – which we will pay back. Click on our profile graphic below to check out our profile request to see how it works.

We just think the whole concept is outstanding and its a fun way to raise awareness about what we are doing on a global basis! Importantly to us, we are raising awareness for the missions of both WWBIC and Kiva Zip by telling our stories of working with both of these organizations.

For more information:

Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation

Kiva Zip

Pixologie

Yep, We Wanted a Photo Shoot!

Posted on January 16, 2015 by pixologie

One week ago, co-founders Mollie Bartelt and Ann Matuszak enjoyed some time at the Pixologie Studio in Oak Creek to have a photo shoot with Rosie Hartmann. Below is her blog from our morning together! And great tips if you ever want to schedule a photographer to do your own photo shoot!

So You Want a Photo Shoot?

By Rosie Hartmann

Friday I had one of my most successful shoots ever. My sister was the “client”. She wanted a professional looking shoot for business purposes. She came prepared, there are many things that mean prepared for a shoot.

In this case she was willing, had a clear idea in her head that we discussed beforehand and she came dressed for success. She had a clear set of ideas. Last but not least she worked it.

On my part, I knew with the look she wanted I would have to shoot technically in a way I do not normally shoot. We both adapted to her needs.

I have always looked at being a photographer as it is my job to deliver what the client wants. That has always meant I needed to figure out what they want. Most clients do not have the mindset my sister did. I have never really had that before. It was magical. So if you ever want a really amazing shoot this is what I recommend.

Like your photographer. If you do not like the photographer they are not right for you. Have a clear idea of what you are looking for i.e. portrait, business, casual, candid etc. Dress the part. If you look good you will feel good. If you feel good you will look good. That translates so well to the camera. Not all photographers are going to take instruction well. They think they are the expert. I am no expert on you, so please speak up! That one point right there is an important thing to discuss with a photographer before you use them!

Lastly, I think everyone should do a shoot. I am no different. I set the camera and had my sister do some shots of me. One is below. I also scheduled my own professional shoot. It is March 7th. I am sure that will be a blog down the line as well.

Rosie’s Website: www.rosiehartmann.com

Photo Mess Resolutions? 4 Steps to Start Fixing It Now!

Posted on January 5, 2015 by pixologie

Got photos in your Near Year’s resolutions this year? This blog is definitely geared for anyone who has piles, boxes, envelopes, old albums and more of photos, slides and negatives that need some work. And, it is geared for anyone who has camera cards, smart phone picture libraries, tablets, computers, social media full of photos that need to be saved. If you have photos in both print and digital chaos, here are three steps to start fixing it now.

STEP ONE – Traditional printed photos, slides & negatives – Start collecting all of your pictures into one place in your home. Having all of your photos, etc. in one area will help you figure out what you are dealing with and making a priority list.

STEP TWO – Digital photos – Create a folder on your computer with a name you’ll remember (My Favorite Pictures, Super Special Pictures Collection or Smith Family Photos). Start saving all of your photos to this one folder including downloading them from emails, social media and more. You can create subfolders for each date, event, etc. We recommend the naming convention of YYYY-MM-DD Description – which will help your folders display in date order properly. For example:

2014-12-10 Christmas Concert
2014-12 December Phone Photos
2014 – Social Media Downloaded Photos

STEP THREE – Be consistent with working on your photos – always put your printed photos you are given or photos that you find with the other photos you have organized. For your digital photos, each week take time to download photos to your Picture Folder, transfer photos from your devices to that folder.

STEP FOUR – Plan the time and a location to work on bringing it all together. Some of our clients at Pixologie have had over 15,000 printed photos, 200,000 digital photos or over 100 years worth of photo mess. An average photo collection of our clients includes 12,000 to 16,000 moments and memories. If you are in a similar situation, you will not get this done in a day at home.

Get out of the house on a photo retreat for a weekend or come to Pixologie for a workshop and ongoing studio time to get motivation, tips, ongoing cheerleading and inspiration to continue on getting your photos out of chaos and back into life to be celebrated and shared.

Here’s Pixologie’s offering of services, products and workshops to help you get started.

We’d love to you help you with a plan – don’t hesitate to call, email or Facebook us if you have questions on how to get started with your New Year’s photo resolutions!

web: www.pixologieinc.com

email: contact@pixologieinc.com

phone: 414-731-1881

I can’t do it. I just can’t.

Posted on December 1, 2014 by pixologie

Confessions from professional photographer, artist and our business consultant, Rosie

NOTE: Photo taken by someone who is NOT a professional photographer!

Original at: http://www.rosiehartmann.com

Photo organization, I can’t do it. It is really funny actually. Most artists do not like the business side of working within the different avenues of the art world. They find it horrifying. They can look at their pictures and get them tagged, filed and findable. With the software today like Picasa, where you can easily use the face finder function and tag people it has gotten so much easier.

Me? I would rather work on the business side then organize and tag pictures. You may as well just apply the most de-motivated poster to me. It’s ironic that the business I do the most consulting for is a photo organization business.

It is also humorous that I choose the water drop oldie but goodie picture for yesterday. One week I shot over 1,500 pictures a day in search of the perfect method to get water drop pictures. I was obsessed. Yet, I could not even spend 3 hours on organizing all of those shots yesterday.

I can’t organize this mess. I have over 115,000 shots in my library. That number is where I stopped counting. I have filled almost a terabyte of space with pictures. So in the spirit of giving up, I am going to go paint my kitchen cabinets black now. If I am lucky, while I am doing that my sister will come over and take control of my photo mess.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pixologie to the rescue, hang tight, don’t despair – Rosie! We’ve got your back – and anyone else who needs help with their photo chaos!

Call us at 414-731-1881

Email at contact@pixologieinc.com

Check out our website: http://www.pixologieinc.com.

Photo Restoration – Guest Blogger

Posted on November 14, 2014 by pixologie

We are lucky to have a guest blogger who happens to be a local Milwaukee artist right here . . . enjoy this blog reposted from Rosie Hartmann – who does Pixologie’s photo restoration!

I was so absorbed reading this book about photo restoration that I kinda took my picture of the day (POD) late and it was of the book. I get obsessive, I admit it. With the dabbling I have been doing in photo restoration I find a peace and tranquility. I can’t explain how soothing I find it to work on the restorations. I never expected that.

I do not like clinical things with my art or photography. Restoring old photos is very clinical. It started out with wondering if I could do a restoration. Now, it is turning into something more. I thought about this a bit. I wondered why I would like this kind of work so much. Moreover I wondered why I found some peace doing it.

This is what I came up with; It’s kind of like rebuilding and restoring yourself. You need to be careful to keep the integrity of the original picture just as I need to keep the core parts of what makes me, me. I think with any trials and tribulations we have seeing ourselves get repaired is often not a peaceful process yet there is peace in it.

For more information about Rosie, her own blog & her art website, go to: http://www.rosiehartmann.com

Family Photos Deserve an Audacious Goal

Posted on September 25, 2014 by pixologie

Three Things You Need to Know About International Save Your Photos Day

Craziness at Pixologie over the past week . . . since we committed to scanning 100,000 photos in honor of International Save Your Photos Day this Saturday. With our Kodak Picture Saver scanners, we have scanned anywhere from 2,000 to over 10,000 photos a day and have seen so many memories that are finally coming out of boxes, envelopes and deteriorated albums. (WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME, SEVERE RISK OF FRUSTRATION AND THROWING FLATBED SCANNER OUT THE WINDOW!)

Here’s three things you need to know about Save Your Photos Day and why we went out (like way out) on a limb to bring attention to this day.

ONE: There is a Save Your Photos Alliance

We were humbled during the Association of Personal Photo Organizers’ 2014 National Conference when volunteers spoke about helping tornado and flooding victims be reunited with some of their photos.

Out of this presentation was born a group of photo organizers, non-profits and businesses who have committed to the safeguarding, recovering, restoring and reuniting of photos and treasured memorabilia before and after disasters occur.

The Save Your Photos Alliance designated Saturday, September 27 as International Save Your Photos Day. Pixologie is a proud member of the alliance and thrilled to be having a special Open House here at our studio this weekend.

TWO: The National Disaster Photo Rescue (NDPR) Group Proves Photos Matter

The NDPR online index of recovered photos

Located in Joplin, Missouri, the NDPR volunteers have rescued, cleaned, indexed and stored over 35,000 photos and documents that were blown from homes and businesses on May 22, 2011. Over half of these items have been returned to their owners. Here’s a link to their website.

A photo is a lifeline when disaster hits. Please take a few minutes to watch how Joplin has recovered from the horrific tornado that tore apart their town. While the video doesn’t deal with the photo recovery efforts, it definitely makes one think about all we have to be thankful for.

THREE: You Can Help – Your Donation Will Be Matched by Pixologie Up To $1,000

Run by volunteers, the NDPR could use our help for expenses in helping these photos be saved. Donations will be used to provide mileage reimbursement and meals for volunteers who donate countless hours of service both at disaster sites as well as working with recovered photos to repair and restore them for return to the owner.

We have a challenge grant for the NDPR – we will donate matching dollars to the NDPR for every dollar we collect for Save Your Photos Day up to $1,000.

So. . . whether or not you have your own photos to save or you’d like to help someone else save their photos, please plan an hour to stop on by our Open House this Saturday.

Your photos really do matter – ask anyone who has lost their photos to a tornado or flood.

How about joining us in making your own audacious goal?

Get your photos out of chaos and back into your life to be protected, celebrated and shared!

Save Your Photos Day at Pixologie

Saturday, September 27, 1 to 4 pm

9803 South 13th Street, Oak Creek, WI 53154

RSVP to 414-690-0791 or FACEBOOK

Stepping Out of Photos For a Moment . . . Can You Find Your Music?

Posted on September 12, 2014 by pixologie

When you need motivation for getting going on your photo project, music can be extremely inspiring. One of my favorite songs about memories is by Bon Jovi . . . (Okay, it is a bit romantic, but he sings about photos!!!!)

WATCH You Want to Make A Memory Video

SWITCHING GEARS FROM PHOTOS TO MUSIC

There is a lot of music that I love listening to while working on things that have taken me a while to get to. I am switching gears for this blog from organizing photos to talk about your music collection. Why in the world would I do that?

Music matters too! It inspires, sets the mood and brings back many memories. (Calling the 80s – my childhood & Uptown Girl!)
Pixologie has connected with Murfie – an online music collection and store. Murfie is a partner of the Association of Personal Photo Organizers which is important to us – because it tells us that Murfie understands the significance of photos and memories and what we do.

Murfie is a fellow Wisconsin business – located in Madison just an hour and a half from our Pixologie Studio in Oak Creek, WI. We had to go check them out especially when Tyler Stubbe, long time Murfie employee, told us they have over half a million CDs in their warehouse of music.

MY TOUR AT MURFIE HEADQUARTERS

Here’s what I learned during my tour in Madison. You can:

Stream your CD and vinyl collection eliminating the need to store hundreds and hundreds of old CD cases in your home
Sell your CDs and vinyl records in a personal shop
Purchase CDs (digitally from other Murfie members – you are buying a physical CD that Murfie stores for you.)
Download CD files to add to iTunes and other music playing software
Trade albums with other members
Add albums to your Wishlist, choose a price, Autobuy and much more

Okay – I couldn’t resist taking some fun photos of the Murfie team.

The Murfie team let me ship my classic music collection in to try their services out. I loved it – thought it was supercool to hear MY music over the internet. (Literally, I was playing my CD – Murfie copies EVERY single CD that is shipped to them – per their obligations to the music industry.)

And. . . I loved to see that I could very easily sell my CDs also. And. . . I found Bon Jovi’s Lost Highway album for $3.00 – which has my very favorite “Let’s Make a Memory” song on it.

So – it’s a THUMBS UP for our fellow Wisconsin business – Murfie Music!!!

If you are interested in Murfie, here’s a discount code for you! Send your music collection in and use discount code: PIXMSN1 for 10% off!

www.murfie.com

Say No To Bad Selfies! : )

Posted on March 20, 2014 by pixologie

Here’s a beautiful selfie of Co-Founder Ann Matuszak’s daughter – who happens to also love photos! (However, this gem of a selfie was found among many, many other goofy selfies!)

We love, love photos at Pixologie!

So, my friend, Paula at Just Add Kids, was telling me about how her kids use her smartphone to take many “selfies.” When she mentioned that, I groaned. (Okay, we don’t love all photos.) Her biggest problem (besides her kids just using the phone) was something like, “Well, how can I delete them?” Admittedly, some of her kids’ “selfies” were adorable, but most of the selfies, in my humble opinion, just needed to be trashed.

I am going to make a categorical statement in my life, “Say No To Selfies.” (hashtag is #saynotobadselfies). After talking with Paula and her assistant, Theresa, we came to the following conclusions:

Selfies clutter our phones.
Selfies, while fun in the moment,tend to desensitize children and teenagers and really seem, at a deeper level, a form of self-disrespect. Consider the headline in a recent New York Times article, “With Some Selfies, the Uglier the Better.” See the link below as it provides an interesting perspective on selfies. I’m not sure how I feel about it all.
They can take away the innocence of a teenager – first, it’s a goofy face; next – a provocative look; then – a daring cleavage shot; and in too many instances – a bikini selfie and worse

Having said all of that, there are some “selfies” that are amazingly awesome. So, after further reflection, I can’t say no to them all, just the bad ones. Selfies can catch a moment in a special, ethereal, way – such as at a wedding – or at the Academy Awards like Ellen did with the most tweeted ever photo!

UPCOMING CLASS

Related to the selfie dilemma, Pixologie and Just Add Kids is offering this class to anyone with too many photos on their phone.

Get Your Photos Off Your Phone!

Pixologie Studio at The Gathering in Oak Creek

8825 South Howell Avenue, Suite 102

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/fashion/selfies-the-uglier-the-better-technology.html?_r=0

Check Out: Just Add Kids – http://www.justaddkidsonline.net

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