A Geologist’s discovery

When Paquette got them back, she found herself transported back to so many of the places where she had been assigned or visited — various countries in Central and South America, Australia, Germany, Bangladesh, Syria and Vietnam. While she loves looking back at all the good times with all the friends she made, some of her favorite images are our her late parents.

“It brings back so much happiness, but sometimes sadness,” Paquette, 67, says. “I can see now: I have had a very, very rich life.” says. “So this is such a gift.”

The experience has made him more convinced that anyone with analog images should digitize them as soon as they get a chance.

“Life happens and people die,” he says, sighing. “When you are gone, unless you are leaving behind some money, the only thing you are leaving behind are some photos.”

Clifford Cuffey inherited a passion for geology and photography from his father, who died last year.

Those shared traits coalesced into Cuffey finding himself with more than 100,000 photos, including about 70,000 Kodachrome slides that he had taken from 1985 through 2009 using cameras outfitted with manual Olympus and Nikon lenses. Many of the pictures were taken during his trips revolving around his interest in geology — his chosen profession.

And his dad, a geology professor at Penn State University, had left behind similar pictures taken during summer trips when Cuffey and his brother used to tag along as kids. But there were also other photos devoted to hobbies, such as trains and railroads that don’t even exist any longer, old pets and, of course family pictures.

Cuffey, 55, has spent more than $20,000 digitizing the best of his analog photo collection to help fulfill his goal to set up a website focusing on geology. But the investment is also producing some real sentimental dividends.

“These were the fun things I did growing up,” Cuffey says. “Every time I look at my scanned photos, I have a big smile on my face and I am super glad I did it.”