More permanent than a sand painting, but not much else
April 26, 2007
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Variety has an interesting article about how to preserve movies that were captured digitally. The news is not so good.
Sony’s Vice President of asset management and film restoration says Sony’s archiving program includes migrating every two to three years. Great idea, but keep in mind that the amount of data to be migrated is growing constantly. There’s no way Sony’s gonna keep doubling their IT staff to meet that growing need. The article argues that it will all be outsourced soon. Elektrofilm is mentioned, but when I visited the website I didn’t see anything about digital preservation beyond DVDs.
- Bottom line: The old school method of “store and ignore” simply doesn’t work with digital.
- Scary statistic: 40% of backup tapes have frames missing or corrupted after being stored for as little as 9 months.
- My favorite ironic solution: Transforming digital intermediates into three-color separation negatives. Ya heard me! Someone got a grant to study how to turn digital originals into “good old-fashioned film.”
Read the entire Variety article on digital film preservation here.
Link via slashdot.
First real computer bug (har dee har har)
April 23, 2007
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When I get nifty geeky email, I like to pass it along:
Dear SallyI enjoy your blog. This appeared on another list,
and seemed right up your street.Andrew Millard
A real thrill for the computer historian; see the very first computer
“bug” preserved as a museum specimen.
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Did you know about this digital printing feature?
April 19, 2007
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I had no idea this was possible, but Lee left a comment on the digital printing thread that Shutterfly offers the option of printing an inscription on the back of your photos. It’s called backprinting.
Holy cow is that brilliant. Just imagine NEVER writing on another photo again. Ever! And you don’t even have to feel guilty about not writing because, you know, the labeling is already done.
Anyone out there know how much this costs or if any other printers offer this service?
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How to find a conservator in your area
April 18, 2007
Here is THE directory of experts in the conservation of photographs, paintings, manuscripts, books, textiles, artifacts, and electronic media of all kinds — including albums, tapes, video and film.
Searchable by location and/or specialty.
Neat-o.
AIC FORM FOR SELECTING A CONSERVATOR
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Tackling a large family photo project
April 18, 2007
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Thanks to Trevira for leaving a comment about her favorite online photo printer. I hope others will join her and Amanda and Barbara. Had a terrible experience? Love your printer? It’s not too late to leave your comment.
Oh, and, Trevira? I think it’s all kinds of cool that this blog has been your inspirado. Here is my promise to you and anyone else who is tackling a Really Big Photo Project:
You can do this.
Seriously, you can.
Here are a few tips to keep you on track:
(1) Your entire collection does not need to survive 200+ years. That means you don’t have to give all of it the Cadillac treatment. Invest only in the shots that mean the most to you. And by invest I mean invest real money in high quality enclosures, and invest time to write the stories behind your photographs.
(2) Lose the dreck. Don’t be afraid to edit. You’re not doing future generations any favors by leaving the editing up to them.
(3) Big projects are scary. Just remember: “Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps.”
(4) Break your project into chunks (see #3) but keep in mind that the smaller the chunks, the longer it will take to complete your project. Rope off a half day every and you’ll see real progress. And real progress is the BEST motivator.
(5) The more fun you have doing it, the more often you will work on your project. Crank your favorite music while you work. Or take advantage of the buddy system and schedule a monthly photo date with a friend who lives in town but who you don’t see often enough. Or host a brunch and call it a photo bee. Whatever works.
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P.S. For those of you who are patiently waiting for a recording of my Photo Savers / Story Keepers workshop, I’m happy to report that all the permissions have been cleared. It shouldn’t be long now, really. I just need to learn a new software program. Ahem. What was that bit about baby steps?
Get those snapshots off your computer and into your life
April 14, 2007
RealSimple’s tip of the day is How to Organize Your Digital Photos.
The article discusses ways to upload and share images via online digital albums. There are, of course, many more options than the ones suggested in this piece.
Print your digitals. Hands-down the single easiest thing you can do to extend the life of your photos. It’s so cheap these days that there’s really no excuse not to. And unlike the days of film, you don’t have to pay for the bad shots. Such a deal.
Where should you send your digitals to be printed? The same place you used to send your film. If your trusted local photo shop is long gone, you’ll have to pick a mail order service. I’ve never used the mail order ones, so I don’t have much to say about it.
Got an online digital provider that you love? Share your great find by posting a link in the comments section, below.
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Shhh…can you hear what your photos are saying?
April 13, 2007
Keep me.
Protect me.
Share me.
Sorry to be such a tool for Kodak, but some of you are going to love it as much as I do. They turn the schmaltz up to eleven* for this one. Excellent photo montage mixing classic historic photos with “this could be your life” snapshots. The kids, of course, are killer cute. If you’re a sentimental fool like me, better have a hanky ready before they get to the part with the gentleman in the bow tie.
I think the sentiment is spot-on: “Keep me. Protect me. Share me.”
I agree except, um, just between you and me? They aren’t *all* keepers.
Lose the dreck.
The good news is you’ll know the absolute keepers when you see them because they make you feel the way this commercial is trying to make you feel. Except it will be your real life and not some Madison Avenue fantasy.
*I stole this phrase from another Kodak video on youtube. This one was created for in-house only (there is some mild swearing that would never make it onto tv). Hy-larious stuff including: “Turn down your mini-disc and power up your Newton!”
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Link via Scoble.
A (very) old trick to handle a fussy baby
April 13, 2007
Imagine it’s 1886. Everyone wants a portrait of the baby, who just won’t sit still for the camera long enough. Look very closely at this photo and you’ll see a clever trick to calm a fretful baby: Disguise the mother as a chair
Here’s what the owner of this image says:
I have a small collection of photos of mothers disguised as chairs. John recently found this tintype at an estate sale for a $1 which is a great example.
Related articles:
Another hidden mom photo, this one a tintype
Photo Credit: Swapatorium
Link via Boing Boing, the folks responsible for my new obsession with all things steampunk. Curse you Cory Doctorow! And I’m looking in your direction, too, William Pene du Bois.
Unclutterer and overseas scanning mills
April 10, 2007
Not long before I left with my kids for a Spring Break trip to Florida, bekee sent me an email about the cool new Unclutterer blog.
More specifically, she pointed me to a recent entry about purging photo collections called “Photo Processing (with a Garbage Bag).”
Overall, I thought the author made some great points, although I have a few quibbles.
…that no longer surprises you, does it?
First of all, a big thumbs up to this sentiment:
Get rid of all the horrendous shots and end up with a box or folder of “keepers.”
Yes, yes, yes!!
All photos are not created equal. Here’s an article I wrote to help non-archivist decide what is and what isn’t a “keeper.”
Unclutterer also recommends slip-in photo albums, which is my personal favorite because they are so simple and easy. I especially love the ones with room to write a quick caption.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find a single one that has passed the Photographic Activity Test, or PAT. Not sure what the PAT is? Click here to learn more about what the PAT is and why it’s important if you want your photos to survive tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.
In addition, Pioneer never bothered to answer my repeated phone calls and emails about whether or not they have had any of their products tested. Grrr. Light Impressions sells plenty of items that have passed the test, but their Imperial Slip In album either failed the test or was never tested in the first place.
So all I’m left with is slip in pages with 3 hole punches from PrintFile, plus (non-vinyl!) 3 ring binders. A very safe option, but not the most attractive. On the upside, this is an inexpensive choice.
But wait.
There’s more.
This is the part of Unclutterers‘ entry that freaked me out the most:
If you want to go all the way and really minimize, skip the physical albums altogether and go straight to digital. There are a number of services out there like DigMyPics.com that will scan your negatives or prints and return them to you on a CD-ROM or DVD. Then you can trash all your old physical media. Don’t feel guilty about it. Any time you want a print you can just make one.
Holy guacamole, I hardly know where to start…
- Everyone knows that digital photos take up less space, but the plain truth is that they will not last as long as prints or negatives. I’ll say that again: PHOTO PRINTS WILL OUTLAST DIGITAL COPIES. For an eloquent explanation of this reality, I highly recommend Stewart Brand’s essay “Written on the Wind.” It’s not too long and basically jargon-free.
- FYI, if you save your digital pics as JPEG files you’ll lose information each time you make a change and re-save. Changes like eliminating red eye or cropping or adding a caption.
- Some scanning mills (but not DigMyPics.com –> see my full correction here) send your photos overseas for scanning, usually China or India. Why? Because Americans don’t want to pay more that 10 cents per scan, that’s why. But why on earth would you risk losing all your photos by allowing them to be shipped so far away? That’s madness in my opinion.
- Bottom line? Digitization is a great way to create a backup copy of your most cherished photos. It’s also an inexpensive and fun way to share your photographs with others. But please for the love of all that is good, DO NOT TOSS YOUR ORIGINALS AFTER SCANNING! (This also holds true for home movies on film, fyi.)
Unclutterer bravely conquers other types of organization, too, and there are some real gems. Here’s some utterly practical advice for anyone with an Imelda Marcos-style shoe habit:
Photograph each of your pairs of shoes, print the photos on your ink jet color printer, and then tape the photo to the outside of the appropriate shoe box.
Brilliant!
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Photo Credit: Alicia, via Unclutterer
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Their possible future
April 1, 2007
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Remember how I was complaining just a few minutes ago about links that download PDFs automatically? Well, I just started reading one of them and it’s great. Yeah, life can be funny that way.
Ensuring the Longevity of Digital Information
by Jeff Rothenberg
Revision: February 22, 1999
Click here to download the PDF.
Here’s his great opener:
The year is 2045, and my grandchildren (as yet unborn) are exploring the attic of my house (as yet unbought). They find a letter dated 1995 and a CD-ROM (compact disk). The letter claims that the disk contains a document that provides the key to obtaining my fortune (as yet unearned).My grandchildren are understandably excited, but they have never seen a CD before—except in old movies—and even if they can somehow find a suitable disk drive, how will they run the software necessary to interpret the information on the disk? How can they read my obsolete digital document?
Later on in the article he points out how important the letter is in this scenario. It’s crucial because it identifies the disk as something of value. Without the letter (on paper, of course) there’s no way someone is going to go to heroic lengths to read the data. Trust me on this one.
As a footnote, I was delighted to learn that Jeff is responsible for one of my favorite soundbytes about digital preservation:
