At 18:20 12/16/00 , Simon Evans wrote:
>Last weekend I was looking through my old Kodachrome slides of Christmas
>dinners or seasonal visits to relatives. A number of the people in those
>images are now dead, and the slides themselves have assumed an importance
>that would not have concerned me at the time. I'm very glad they're still
>viewable. As Christmas comes, I suggest everyone tries to photograph their
>nearest and dearest (preferably with your OMs, of course), I know I
>certainly will. Next year might be too late, carpe diem...
During my recent, and hopefully only, forray into the realm of wedding
photography, I tried to ensure at least one good photograph of each elderly
family member present was made. Sadly, all too often these photographs of
grandparents, great-grandparents and great-aunts/uncles are the last decent
ones of them.
I too have deep concerns over the ability to adequately archive digital,
not just for our direct heirs, but for historical purposes as well. Just
this morning I saw a program on CSPAN done from the National Press Club
about Civil War (aka War for Union or War Between the States) photography,
notably wet-plate stereo photographs. Photography was very, very young and
had just moved into wet-plate technology. These B/W graphic images tell
more detail about history than all that's in print. To be understood,
major historical events must be put into context of the society in which it
occurred at the time. It is images such as these that create a better
understanding of the context. Afterward I wondered how difficult it would
be, if digital displaced film completely, to give a National Press Club
presentation such as this one 150-200 years following a demise of film.
The archival nature of many documentary things around us is decreasing and
this is very sad.
Not that color negative is all that archival either. My other half has
been very disappointed that color negatives from 25-35 years ago have not
archived well. They can be reprinted, but the fade and color shift in them
is horrible. You are indeed lucky you used Kodachrome, as did my father.
His Kodachrome archive, which I now have, looks much like the day they came
back from from developing and mounting. I've had numerous prints done from
them for relatives. They are *very* thankful for these 40-50 year old
images, quite a number of which are lasting memories of people now long gone.
Indeed, Carpe Diem!
-- John
(who is loading up the Kodachrome 64 for this Christmas)
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