The Life Preserver Blog

LIFEGUARD

Dane — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:04:09 +0000

Life Preserver has always striven to demonstrate value to its customers and offer new ways of preserving and protecting that which is most precious to them: memories.

You are receiving this message because you have used our service in the past. We hope you’ve found your experience with us to be nothing short of exceptional.

We’re pleased to offer a new service called LIFEGUARD™. LIFEGUARD allows Life Preserver to permanently host the media that we’ve transferred for you, assuring that it will never be lost, damaged or corrupted.

Why would you use LIFEGUARD? Well, chances are you’ve made a substantial investment in digitizing your memories. They’re now far safer and more flexible than they were in analog form and are safe from fading and discoloration.

Hard drives and optical discs (CDs and DVDs) are not impervious, though. Statistically speaking, the average consumer has a 1 in 12 chance of experiencing a hard drive or disc error in a given year, and a 1 in 3 chance of data loss due to human error.

That’s why we recommend insuring your investment with LIFEGUARD.

-If you’re a photo client, we will backup and guarantee your data for $6/month. The system is not tiered, we don’t heckle you on a per GB basis. Just a flat monthly rate to insure your memories (and your investment is safe).
-If you’re a video client, we will backup and guarantee your data for $12/month.
-If you’ve done both photos and videos with Life Preserver, just $12/month will cover both photos and video.

Why risk losing the memories in which you’ve invested so heavily? Let Life Preserver do what it does best. Preserve and protect your precious memories.

We will begin sending out personalized messages this month catered to your circumstances, and we’ll officially launch LIFEGUARD on January 1st, 2009.

If you have any questions, please call 800.975.7304

Yours,

The Life Preserver Team

Louis Vuitton Photo Album

Dane — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:54:41 +0000

I was recently browsing a great “under the radar” site called Malleries when I stumbled across this wonderful Louis Vuitton photo album. Pick it up quick and print out those reminiscent family photos freshly digitized by Life Preserver. Great idea for a generous holiday gift.

Canon VIXIA HF10 HD Camcorder

Dane — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:50:01 +0000

This digital camcorder records full HD 1920 x 1080 AVCHD-format video directly to its built-in 16GB internal flash memory or to a removable Secure Digital High Capacity card. Advanced DIGIC DV II image processing and SuperRange optical image stabilization ensure clear, well-focused shots. More info at Best Buy.

Celebrate the past while giving the present.

Dane — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:04:47 +0000

Holiday Exclusive

What could possibly be better than giving and receiving gifts during the holidays? How about remembering the old days with wrapping paper that shows you care?
Life Preserver is proud to offer you high quality gift wrap, customized with photos of your choosing. Give mom that foot massager wrapped in photos of her little tykes in 1964.

It’s a great way to remember old times, and the Ghost of Christmas Past will thank you. I’m sure you’re far nicer than Ebenezer Scrooge.

Details

Life Preserver’s exclusive holiday wrapping paper costs $18.95 per 6’ roll. All orders placed before December 12th are guaranteed delivered by December 23rd.

If you are a past client of ours, all you have to do is pick out a photo or photos that you’d like to include on your wrapping paper. You may email us the filename of the photo, or email us the photo as an attachment.

If you have not used our photo services, you may email us a digital photo, or mail us a physical photo no later than December 5th.

Our address is 2684 Lacy Street, #216, Los Angeles, CA 90031.

If at any time you have any questions, please feel free to call us toll free at 800.975.7304

It’s your life. Relive it.™

“Get back to where you once belonged”

Dane — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:47:15 +0000

This cool new software from Poladroid is a great way to visualy relive your high resolution images framed with a vintage poloroid border. Very easy to use with its drag and drop interface. Get back to that old school analog feel with your new school digital media. See some examples here. Via Uncrate

Camera for Sale…

Dane — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:04:00 +0000

The stylish Canon HV20 gives you the ultimate in HD video and digital photo quality with advanced features for the knowledgeable and demanding videographer. Among the Canon Exclusive features on the HV20 are Canon’s own Full HD CMOS sensor and advanced DIGIC DV II image processor, ensuring meticulous detail and superior color reproduction. More exclusives are, SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization and Instant Auto Focus. With the Genuine Canon 10x HD video zoom lens and a host of other advanced features the HV20 is the right choice in High Definition camcorders. And, with its HD and Standard Definition recording modes, you can make the move to HD without making your SD equipment obsolete.

The HV20 is easy to use and delivers the high level of performance you’ve come to expect from Canon. It’s the premium quality High Definition camcorder that sophisticated and discerning videographers have been waiting for.

THE ENTIRE PACKAGE:

CAMERA:

- HD Camcorder HV20 / Wireless Controller / Compact Power Adapter / AC Cable / Battery Pack / Component Cable / Stereo Video Cable / Interface Cable (USB) / Interface Cable (FIREWIRE) / Software (CD-ROM) / Battery Pack

ALSO COMES WITH:

- Canon Wide-converter WD-H43 Lens / Rode Directional Video Condenser Microphone (Studio Quality, Integral Shock Mount, Wind Shield, Multi position hot shoe mount) / Vintage Tamrac Camcorder Case / QSX 6601 Tripod / Radio Shack Tripod (Carrying Case Included) / Sunpak Mini Tripod (Carrying Case Included) / Three unopened Sony DVC EXCELLENCE tapes / Extra Batteries for your convenience

I have literally used this twice. Its a great camera and can be used in home movie or semi professional situations. All original packaging included. Please email me at dane@digitallifepreserver.com for more info.

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES MULTIPLE TIMES FOR BIGGER SIZE

CRAIGSLIST

Photos give a glimpse into LAPD history

Dane — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:44:51 +0000

An archive of images spanning from the Prohibition era to Woodstock — which was once slated for destruction — exhibits the evolution of the city and policing.

By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 14, 2008

A man lies on the tiled floor illuminated by the afternoon sun as blood streams from a head wound, out an open door and onto the sidewalk.

The grisly incident, immortalized by one of the Los Angeles Police Department’s crime scene photographers, was shot inside a dark hallway in July 1932, after a deadly shooting at a Vermont Avenue jewelry store.

Another vintage black-and-white image, circa 1955, shows several detectives in fedoras and overcoats standing over a dead body in the rain-swollen Los Angeles River.

Still another offers a tight shot of a sofa and bloodstained newspaper, leaving the clear impression that an unseen victim met an untimely end.

The prints are part of an immense photographic archive discovered earlier this decade that was tucked away in a corner of the LAPD’s downtown evidence storage facility.

Once slated for destruction, the collection of nearly a million pieces — the majority of them film negatives — span from the Prohibition era to Woodstock, a period of prolific growth in Los Angeles.

Besides violent crime scenes, LAPD cameras captured the mundane: A police officer directing traffic along Broadway; a vehicle mangled in an accident; mug shots; close-ups of evidence such as spent bullets and, in later years, commemorative and promotional shots of a department that, through television shows like “Dragnet,” was gaining worldwide attention.

Those who have worked with the collection, including selecting prints for shows and a coffee table book published several years ago, say that beyond the aesthetics, the photos speak volumes about the evolution of the city and changes to policing.

Early crime scene photos have a more artistic quality even in the most gratuitous scenes, said Tim B. Wride, who has curated an exhibit of the photos.

“The photographers enlisted by the Police Department to document situations were photographers first,” Wride said. “They became police who were photographers, and then police who were photographers and knew forensics. As you professionalized the department, you professionalized the pictures.”

Eventually, the photos appeared “more sterile,” said Wride, as the photographer’s eye became secondary to how the photograph fit into an investigation and prosecution.

What’s captured by the camera was also changing, according to Merrick Morton and his wife, Robin Blackman, archivists for the LAPD collection.

The rise of Los Angeles’ automobile culture in the 1920s and beyond can be seen in the scores of photos documenting car crashes.

Pictures of oversized tin cans chronicled a bygone era when police went after bootleggers.

For a time, there were also shots of empty refrigerators to show child neglect, until governmental welfare agencies took over that function.

In the 1950s, there was an abundance of safecracking cases and a marked increase in evidence of drug paraphernalia and the narcotics trade.

By the mid-1960s, police had expanded into another area: undercover surveillance.

“Along with evidence, they were documenting clandestine behavior,” Morton said of the photography during that era.

There were pictures of hippies who frequented clubs on the Sunset Strip, “love-ins in Griffith and Elysian parks,” and even Muhammad Ali’s appearance at an antiwar rally in Century City, Morton said.

Blackman noted that as the decades went on, the number of crime scene photos jumped exponentially, mirroring the growing population and the commensurate rise in crime.

By the 1960s, taking photographs of violent crimes such as murder had become almost a daily occurrence, Blackman said, whereas before, they would be snapped every few days.

“More people, more crimes, more killing,” Blackman said. “Everything just got bigger.”

Once the postwar era was in full swing, the LAPD’s image became important, not only to attract new police recruits but to cultivate the professional, spit-and-polish culture demanded by Chief William J. Parker.

Photographers who were taking photos of a stabbing one day would participate in staged scenes for PR purposes the next.

Such images included shots used for recruiting billboards. Others were of celebrities such as Bob Hope, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jack Webb, which were used in the LAPD’s in-house magazine.

In surveying the entire collection, Wride said, he laments that in many ways “the imagery contained in it has become less interesting because it became more utilitarian.

“They need to fulfill a very prescribed function,” he said. “But that’s not to say that people 50 years from now won’t find them interesting for that very reason.”

andrew.blankstein@ latimes.com

Alzheimer’s Memory Walk, A Success!

Dane — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:13:43 +0000

Thanks to all who came out to the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk and enjoyed the festivities. Life Preservers booth was in full swing all morning long. Hope everyone who brought photos and had them scanned are excited to see the wonderful results.

Look out Drobo!

Dane — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:46:21 +0000

The new WD Sharespace is a high-speed Gigabit Ethernet storage system that allows for centralized storage with plenty of capacity. Perfect for storing your gigantic photo/video library once it is digital.

Thanks to Uncrate.

Memory Walk

Dane — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:38:37 +0000

“The Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk is one of two annual fundraising efforts for the organization. Since 1989, walks in various cities across the country have raised more than $200 million for research into Alzheimer’s.” - Valley Sun

Come join Life Preserver at the walk and make a difference.

Registration for the walk begins at 7 a.m. Saturday at the water court at California Plaza, 251 S. Olive St. in Los Angeles.

For more information, visit the website at www.alz.org.