Photography for Genealogy

They stand there behind those gates: marble and granite memorials to those who went before. The stones in those cemeteries and the stories they tell for our families are of crucial importance to genealogists. How can we best get access to the land where they stand, and photograph them to capture the stories they tell?

Make your next family portrait the one you will be proud to hang on the wall or mail for the holidays. Learn from professional photographer, Jared Hodges, how to compose and shoot the perfect shot. You will learn about proper lighting, the right poses, what to wear, and more.

If “the camera you have with you” is usually your smartphone, learn to push your photo skills to new levels. Discover apps, accessories and techniques for pro-level scans and photos created with your smartphone. Enhance scanned documents for greater readability, edit and create photo projects with family snapshots.

Everyone will hit a wall in what they can obtain online for their family history project. Get practical tools, tips, and tricks for a successful genealogy research trip which can exponentially grow and develop your genealogy research.

Descendants of former slaveholders come from all walks of life. DNA and renewed interest in family history research continue to unearth this phenomena for thousands of people every day. In this session, learn how to confirm slaveholding ancestors and the tools needed to trace and identify living descendants of their...

Learn how DNA reconnected a family living on two continents (North America and Australia), and how the Underground Railroad, the Freedmen’s Bureau, a legal battle within the slaveholding family, and Broadway musicals became central threads to their dynamic story.

Discover how DNA, online and offline genealogy converged to break down a more than 100 year old brick wall revealing the life, times, and relations of a mysterious multi-ethnic man named John Lee.

This groundbreaking collection, which also goes by the name Louisiana, U.S., Records of Enslaved People, 1719-1820, was the brainchild of Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo-Hall and features the names, genders, ages, occupations, illnesses, family relationships, places of origin and more for upwards of 100,000 formerly enslaved in Louisiana. In this session, learn the history of the collection, where records were obtained, how to search and find original documents, and more.

Organized in August 1862, the First Kansas Colored Infantry was the first Black unit recruited in the North, the first to see and die in battle in the Civil War. Made up of both free and enslaved men, including those from the Five Tribes, its exploits were legendary. Yet, the lives of its rank and file outside of their service were prolific and unsung.