Girmit · Family stories · Stories · Photos
Old photographs · sample family
Upload your old photos.
The prints in the shoebox are the best way into a memory. Photograph them with your phone, say who is in them, and keep them beside the stories they started.
Step 1 · Add the pictures
Drop them in, or take the photo now.
Drag photos here
or choose them from your phone or computer. JPG, PNG or HEIC. You can add many at once.
Nothing added yet. Photos you choose appear here. In this sample they stay on your device and nothing is sent.
Bulk upload
Choose many photos at once. Add them now and tag them later, a few at a time.
Everyone can add
Any family member signed in can add photos. Tags and notes can be corrected by anyone in the family.
Family only
Photos can be seen only by the people in your family. Nothing is public.
Photographing old prints
A phone is enough, if you are gentle.
These come from the family’s interview kit. A few careful minutes now saves the photo from glare, shadow and a cut-off corner.
- Lay it flat. Smooth the print gently on a table. Never bend it.
- Use daylight. Sit by a window, so your own shadow does not fall on the photo.
- No flash. It glares on shiny prints and can fade old paper.
- Hold the phone straight above. Parallel to the print, not tilted. Rest your elbows on the table.
- Get the whole print in. Leave a little table showing round the edges. Then take a close-up of faces or writing.
- Photograph the back too. Pencil notes and stamps are part of the story. Never write on the back in pen.
- Check it. Is it sharp, and are all four corners there? If not, take it again.
Step 2 · Say who, where, when, what
Tap a face to put a name to it.
Each numbered dot is a face. Tap one, choose the person from your tree, then add the place, the date (an estimate is fine) and anything you remember.
Face 1
People come from your tree. If they are not in it yet, you can add them later.
An estimate is fine. “The year we were at school” helps too.
Tagged so far
- Nobody yet. Tap a numbered dot on the photo.
The photo above is a placeholder with abstract figures. Girmit never guesses who someone is: faces are tagged by people, never by software.
Step 3 · The album
Your family album
Every photo keeps its name tags and the stories it is part of.
A grandparent, before 1950before 1950
The line to schoolabout 1957
Our streetabout 1958
On the verandahabout 1962
Mummy at the potabout 1964
The wedding group1960s
Mohan, with the hatabout 1974
The biscuit tin1970s
The front step1970s
From the shoebox
Start with one photo.
Choose the one on the wall, or the one you would save first. Photograph it, say who is in it, and the album has begun.
Privacy · for every story
Private by default. Yours to take back.
Stories are some of the most personal things a family keeps. The rules below apply to every recording, photo and written story, and none of them can be switched off for you.
Only your family
A story can be seen only by the people in this family, once they sign in. Nothing is public.
The speaker says yes first
Every recording notes that the speaker agreed. The speaker can ask for a part to be cut, or the whole story taken down, at any time.
Everyone can add
Everyone in the family can add stories and photos. The person who started the family can undo or delete anything.
Delete, for real
When you delete a story or a photo, the file is removed from the server. It isn’t just hidden.