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Not only has Linda Connell of Onalaska figured out what to do, she is making a business of helping others get over their fear of that big box. Connell has started a business, Take 5 Productions, transforming piles of tape, reels, slides and snapshots into a digital family story.
“I recently had a guy come in with a huge box,” Connell said. “He wanted to do something for his wife’s 50th birthday. He had more than 240 pictures and he didn’t know where to start. I just got a call from her and she was so happy with what I did, she was crying.”
Many — if not most — people don’t think about that stash of pictures until a special event, like an anniversary or birthday, weddings, retirements or family reunions. Connell was one of them until recently. After she and her husband took a trip to Egypt five or six years ago, she had 1,400 slides.
Connell started trying to put her own memories together and one thing led to another. She’s gotten so good at it, she started her own business in October 2007. Because there’s so many different media involved, videography is her catchall description of the business, but there’s so much more.
Connell helps clients organize their material and then uses technology to put it all into a production, usually a movie on DVD. Whether it is scanning hundreds of photos or copying hundreds of feet of videotape, Connell creates a story with the pictures and adds sound and music to make a video production.
“I set the mood with the music and the pace. It’s like choreographing a dance. I can’t be a Rockette, so I do this,” she said with a laugh.
The 40-year-old Connell works at Badger Corrugating in sales but has always had a passion for photography. And for history.
One of her goals is to be able to interview people or let them do the narrating. “I’d like Grandma to be doing the narrating. I’d like to set her up in a studio and film her as she talks about the pictures,” Connell said. “A lot of history is being lost in these people. We don’t have the old family Bible that had the family history anymore. This is a way to keep family traditions alive.”
Like family history, Connell’s business has evolved. “I’ve always been entrepreneurial at heart. I’ve always dreamed of having my own business. Things like having two children and needing steady income, well that just got in the way of that dream.”
Her son, Jason, just graduated from Holmen High School and her daughter, Melissa, is 14. With more time on her hands, she launched the new business, keeping her job at Badger Corrugating.
Despite their busy lives, her children and her husband Bruce, the LMC director at Onalaska High School, help with the business. “Bruce knows all the technical stuff, all the hardware stuff I need. Melissa scans slides and does other things for the business,” Connell said. “I can’t say enough about the support I receive from the family.”
Photography has always been Connell’s creative outlet. That turned into a scrapbooking hobby and videography was just a tiny leap from there. Soon she started showing her talents at craft shows, which is where she picks up most of her clients.
Getting the clients isn’t so hard so far. The real obstacle to her business is what the client has to do before Connell can help them.
“It takes energy to come see me,” she said. “Those clients have to spend some energy to get things organized first, at least put it all in one place.”
With hundreds of pictures or videotapes spread between the basement, attic and closets, however, most people are overwhelmed just thinking about it, much less organizing it.
“I will do that for people,” Connell said. “People can come here with a big box of stuff and I’ll help them organize it. To keep prices low, I don’t charge by the hour, but by the slide or picture. Everyone has those boxes in the basement. The hard part is organizing it. That takes about 15 to 20 hours. Then it’s much quicker to do the final product.”
By the time Connell is finished, she said she feels like part of the family. “It’s emotional sometimes. Like I just finished a graduation video for a high school student I didn’t know before this,” Connell said. “At the end, I just started to cry. I feel so connected to many of my clients after going through their family memories.”
Connell said her goal for the business is not to become huge. “I just want a creative outlet for the next 25 years and sell it for millions of dollars for my retirement fund,” she said with a laugh. By then, she’ll have her own boxes in the basement to worry about.
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