Hi, we are the Ream Family.
My name is Ethan Ream, and this is my wife Molly. Together, we are the Heritage Helper Team.
For us, preserving family memory is a labor of love.
When Molly’s grandmother passed away in 2021, she left behind the most photo albums that I had ever seen a single person possess. There were over eighty! (see photo below)
In reality, this vast collection was not a surprise to anyone who knew Mimi. She was a devoted follower of Jesus. She kept close photos of every grandchild, friend and relative. She constantly prayed for them all. To her, these photos were most precious treasures.
I immediately knew that I wanted to help Molly’s family create a digital copy of Mimi’s photos. It would be such a comfort to each family member to have her collection secured forever in a format that could be easily shared.
I had prior experience digitizing media for family members, but never on this scale. It was overwhelming. These photo albums spanned decades. Each one was thick with hundreds of memories. In addition to the photos, there were hours of video and audio on VHS, film reels and cassette tapes.
This massive project would require my full attention for the next several months. My hours outside of my full time job were occupied with learning everything I could about media preservation. I only accepted the most sophisticated methods available for this project, and my work began to yield beautiful digital images.
In time, Molly and I integrated state of the art equipment that brought an edge of efficiency. Our new tools gave us the ability to offer retouching services to aged and damaged photos. This put us in a place where we could create superior digital photos and movies at a much quicker pace.
We were so thankful for this evolution of skill and for the tools that brought us more capability. Both factors were so needed to complete this huge project.
In total, this project yielded over 14,000 photos and approximately 20 hours of combined video and audio content. These were the contents of the 80+ photo albums and other media - condensed to a stunning archive that could be entirely viewed at one’s fingertips at any time.
Completing this digital archive for Molly’s family was a joy. It is a project that I am proud of.
Everyone has photos and VHS tapes with precious content. If you want to be able to access your older memories with the same ease as scrolling through recent photos on your camera roll, it would be my pleasure to assist you. I started Heritage Helper to help you achieve these goals, and to share with your loved ones as I have shared with mine.