Memories are made of this
OV E R T H E y e a r s w e h a v e amassed a heap of family memorab i l i a . B u t t hes e prec i o us p i c - t u r e s a r e stored in tattered photo albums or tucked away in aged envelopes, or in plastic frames stuck to the fridge. Many are one-of-a-kind i mages, bringing back fond memories of our former life in Israel.
Others capture our grandchildren frolicking in our back garden. Taken together they create an archive of family history.
Among the most evocative images are those of our wedding (with my father-in-law in the most florid dinner suite imaginable), my grandparents standing on the doorstep of their east London home, my parents standing proudly in front of their gents’ and ladies’ outfitters shop in Leytonstone and me in my rural heyday, milking the cows at the kibbutz which, for several years, we called home.
Of course, pictures and faces change. My grown-up kids are no longer those sun-kissed toddlers. And some of the pictures themselves are fading.
So what can we do to keep those irreplaceable images fresh and accessible? Well, you could have your very own biopic, created by David Wachs, of A Film for Life and LRG media.
With bases in Britain and America, Wachs has won 20 international film and TV awards, including a Bafta and a prize at the Cannes Film Festival and has been a director and producer for around 30 years.
His productions include films for the UK branch of Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem Holocaust Museum.
“Whether it is a personal legacy film, a family history film or something to show at a wedding, a significant birthday or anniversary, what we do is be with you in a way where the true essence of who you are, who your Personalised Daddy framed print, Not on the High Street, £38.99.
Pearhead star print hanging keepsake, John Lewis, £12 family is, are captured and woven together in a cinematic way,” he says.
If you are expecting an addition to your family tree, a perfect way to maintain the image of a baby’s early weeks is to cast it. You can use a home kit, or visit a company such as Feet-1st ( which specialises in hand and foot impressions from young babies.
Chloe Constantine, who runs the company with Pippa Campbell, says that to take the baby’s impression the child’s hand or foot is gently pressed into soft terracotta clay. “This is pain- free and over in a matter of seconds,” she says. Plaster is poured over the clay imprint and the cast is then airdried and sealed for protection. Feet1st also creates 3D sculptures by placing the child’s foot in alginate, a soft setting solution used widely by dental surgeries. A protective barrier cream is used on the skin before casting.
It doesn’t matter if your child wriggles or needs a feed and they don’t have to be asleep.
Plaster is added to the mould and, whenitisdry,thealginateisremovedto reveal the outline of the hand or foot.
These 3D sculptures can be finished as stand-alone polished items in bronze or aluminium resin, solid bronze or solid silver; they can also be framed.
Hand and foot impressions can be taken at the company’s offices in Tooting or Sutton. But if your baby prefers to be seen at home, Feet-1st offers home visits all over London.
Alternatively, photos can be incorporated in a personalised work of art (by companies such as Not on the High Street) or made into large-scale photo mosaics by companies such as