New KODAK PROFESSIONAL Collections One-of-a-Kind Service Helps Brides Take Treasured Photographs out of the Electronic Shoebox to Create, Share and Preserve Memories with Customized Heirloom Albums

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- It's a new kind of bride, who, rather than engaging professionals to photograph her wedding day, chooses friends or family members and designates them the "official photographer" of the day. Unlike the professional photographer – who not only captures the wedding, but also helps retouch and lay out photo and print images – the friend or family member simply hands over a DVD/CD of the day. As a result, these brides become the "orphaned brides," who, after the honeymoon is over, realize they want more than just a DVD/CD to remember their day. In spite of good intentions, at best, the DVD/CD often sits on a shelf gathering dust. At its worst, it gets damaged, leaving the couple with no photographs to tell the story of their wedding day.

To help these brides relive their day and preserve their memories for future generations, Eastman Kodak Company is trialing KODAK PROFESSIONAL Collections. This unique new service for consumers provides access to designers to create one-of-a-kind stunning heirloom albums, taking the work and hassle out of creating an album on their own. The service leverages Kodak's network of professional photographic labs for design and printing to offer a service unmatched in quality and premium album selection.

"Many couples opt for wedding images from friends and family members on a DVD/CD, but are unclear on how to go about creating high quality wedding albums, or give up due to complexity and time constraints. They also run the risk of losing their photographs, should the DVD get damaged or technology render the DVD useless," said Therese Corrigan-Bastuk, Worldwide Marketing Director, Film Capture, Paper & Output Systems, Eastman Kodak Company. "With KODAK PROFESSIONAL Collections, Kodak makes it easy for newlyweds to create customized, one-of-a-kind professional albums, simply by uploading their images to this service and then choosing the preferred features of their own heirloom album. From there, our professional designers take over, laying out the images to tell the story of the wedding day and presenting it back to the customer for final approval. As we enter the trial period with this new offering, we expect KODAK PROFESSIONAL Collections to offer valued services while removing traditional roadblocks to premium album creation."

The KODAK PROFESSIONAL Collections service provides distinct value to consumers, including professional design support and unlimited layouts with high quality and choice in cover materials. Also, KODAK PROFESSIONAL Collections heirloom wedding albums use KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA Paper, which lasts for more than 200 years in typical dark home storage. KODAK PROFESSIONAL Collections lets consumers blend the images from the designated photographer along with personal candids captured by other wedding guests. As a result, the story of their wedding day will be as beautiful, complete and elegant as the brides remember it.

To create heirloom albums using KODAK PROFESSIONAL Collections, consumers need to do three simple steps:

1. Download KODAK PROFESSIONAL Collections software, which shows the catalog of offerings via www.kodak.com/go/professionalcollections
2. Choose from gorgeous covers, custom layouts and versatile sizes.
3. Upload photos.  (Note: Consumers are responsible for all images uploaded, shared or copied using the Service. Copyright law does not allow Kodak to print pictures and graphics without permission of the copyright owner. The original photographer owns the copyright in any photograph, unless the photographer has licensed or sold those rights.)

Once this is complete, a skilled professional will do the rest and present the consumer with a preview for approval and final order. The end result is a beautiful heirloom album that will tell the story of the couple's special day for generations to come.

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SOURCE Kodak