cluless Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 My mom lost her house in the Katrina Hurricane, and every thing in it. After all was said and done...There were NO photo albums! There were no pictures of good times or bad. There were no baby pictures, pictures of us kids growing up. No pictures of Grammy Bertha and the bear that she shot, No swim team pictures, No bad high school shots. Take care of your history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Clue, Always a good reminder. Many of Barbara's photos from her high school years were destroyed in a fire in a storage area where her parents lived. This is one of the reasons that I started scanning photos and slides this Fall, to get them all on CDs and out to different locations and family members, safe deposit box, etc. What a tedious task that is though. Brings back lots of memories as you start going through all those photos. We have been very lax at labeling the pictures. That is an important thing to get done as well. Plus separating out all the friends from the family pics. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customsteve01 Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Sorry to hear about the lose, Clue, Caroline and I have been talking for a long time about getting one of those FireBoxes and putting important items in it along with CD's with our pictures on them. We just haven't bought one yet. Maybe your thread will push me into going ahead and getting one. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sputnik Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Don't count on CDs for permanent archiving. Apparently, burned CDs have a surprisingly (to me) short lifespan - just two to five years. I posted this link in another thread. It's worth reading. http://computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,107607,00.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Definitely sorry about the loss. I never took pictures, still don't much. I always figured that if you don't remember it, and can't picture it in your mind, it was not important. Yet when I look at old pictures that someone else took I am always glad that they did. If you can put pics on a website, no fire can destroy them, which is about the best way I can think of for safe keeping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Most cd and dvd dyes that they use to make the dvd-r and cd-r are cheap dyes that fade etc over a period of a couple year altought theoretically fine for more than 100 years. I would recommend Sentry safes that are fire and water proof. Especially for places Hurricane prone I would get the water proof. Just never know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Film and print paper aren't really very durable and long lasting either, unfortunately. Of course that depends on where they are stored too. I have a wonderful picture of a friend at her wedding, with my daughter as a flower girl. The print we have is deteriorating, looking like the print wasn't washed long enough. There are yellow spots showing up all over it. I asked the friend if she has another print or the negatives, so we can get a new print made. She hasn't had time to go through them yet. I have some very old burned CDs that are still holding up well, but replicating them again isn't a bad idea. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Prints normall last more than 50 years for color and bw usually last longer than 200... If colterphoto were here I bet he can elaborate even more. But you need to keep the prints at room temperature and without light espcially with color photos that why yearbooks are in black and white. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel's wife Posted January 22, 2006 Moderators Share Posted January 22, 2006 Cluless, We are so sorry to hear about your loss. Dtel's mother and sister now reside with us courtesy of Hurricane Katrina. His niece and her fiance also reside with us courtesy of Katrina. My sister in law had a few cds with photos, most were print, she lost everyone of them. The few cds appear to be fine. We also evacuated our home for Katrina. We are about 45 miles northeast of New Orleans. I had all of our photographs in three large plastic containers. They went into the vehicle before our suitcases were put in. We were fortunate to have a home to come home to, and a home to offer our family. I hope your family is doing well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranjith Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 cluless, so sorry about the loss. I know how you feel about the photographs, when my family moved to Canada 5years ago all our belongings were packed in several packages and we had lost one which contained photographs of the era from when I was 8 till 13yrs old or so. I've longed to see those once again, its sad sometimes. I'm also sorry about the effects of Katrina, stay strong.. in time, life will taste sweeter than ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Prints normall last more than 50 years for color and bw usually last longer than 200... If colterphoto were here I bet he can elaborate even more. But you need to keep the prints at room temperature and without light espcially with color photos that why yearbooks are in black and white. The labs are the problem. IF they are done correctly, color and b&w prints will last a long time. Like the print of my mom, that was made by Olan Mills back in the day. We will have to wait and see how all the snapshots last, that were printed by someone at the one hour photo stuck in the corner of the grocery store. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 When I see folks at the hobby stores buying scrapbook stuff I want to yell "Scan first!". And use archival quality gold CD-Rs. Not just gold color-gold in the substrate. Kodak used to make these, and they're still available after some searching. Maybe Colter knows a good source? Your archived CDs should not be in your house, or necessarily in a safe deposit box. I'd stash them with relatives far away. While I'm at it-scan (or photocopy) the front and back of all the cards and permits in your wallet or purse, and birth certificates, mortgages, and car notes, registrations and titles. Makes reconstructing later much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 While I'm at it-scan (or photocopy) the front and back of all the cards and permits in your wallet or purse, and birth certificates, mortgages, and car notes, registrations and titles. Makes reconstructing later much easier. I totally agree with that but just make sure you know where the copies are too because there soo many identity thefts too. I tell everyone they need a cross cut shredder and there only 30 dollars now that prevents 300,000 dollar nightmares. Also I have seen the kodak archival cd buts I question whether that is for real of just a gimick as with music cd-r and data cd-r. You pay more for music cd-r even though there not certified for data. But the data cd is certified for music and data. As for Clu, I am very sorry for your loss. My dad was a photographer now semi- retired and I used to remember my dad having the world's biggest camera and it being the world's biggest negative (even though it was a medium format hasselblad with the 120 mm film) but that was when I was 5. But I have way too many memories, some I wish never were taken but none the less would be devasted if they were to dissappear. I remember now that ziplock has made an overstuff ziplock bag, that might interest everyone in the hurricane/flood prone region. Also light and temperature is the next biggest factor. But I know it sounds contrary but you can technically wash a print. All you need to do is get a glass pane when your done and then a squeege to wash excess water off. Do not be rough with it and let the water do it's job, usually you want a moving running type. If your careful you can use your fingers lightly to wash any dirt or grime that the water cannot remove. Do not use a paper towel or cloth to wipe off excess water off the print after you wash it, the lint will stick or you may mix/blur the chemicals. Also for prints that seem to not have been wash or are fading that yellowish color. You can save them but I am not sure when the statue expires. Usually the prints start fading a yellow withing 10 minutes meaning they were not in the stop bath solution long enough. Stop bath is just water and vinegar hence the smell. It stops the (it's been awhile) basic (akaline) reaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Shmoe Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 So how do you save your pictures to a disc? can you just drag & drop, or do you need a program? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 you can drag and drop with that microsoft feature which is not that great. But to save them just save them as the original files (turning them digital already losses some quality) and save them as a individual file and not the ways many programs try to make them into an album etc etc which usually compresses the photos to make them into one album. Get adobe photoshop album starter on their website if you want to see a slide show effect without commiteing to any program I use nero to burn anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Shmoe Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 I've got Roxio, which came with the Dell, but I never used it for anything but CD burning. I will mess around with it & try the data feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sputnik Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 We keep all of our important paperwok, passports, small valuables, some credit cards, and emergency cash in a safety deposit box at our bank. How did the bank safety deposit vaults do in the hurricanes? It would still be so hard to lose the important sentimental stuff like photographs, collections, art work, and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ygmn Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 My mom lost her house in the Katrina Hurricane, and every thing in it. After all was said and done...There were NO photo albums! There were no pictures of good times or bad. There were no baby pictures, pictures of us kids growing up. No pictures of Grammy Bertha and the bear that she shot, No swim team pictures, No bad high school shots. Take care of your history. She had to have lived near me... So where was her house...? curious.... Know lots of poeple who still live in tents and trailers.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 "Cluless": You Have PM! [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Places like Walgreens will store your images long term, for free, unlimited number of files. That means they are also probably getting backed up. The only problem is that their regular upload program has a max. file size of 1536x1024 pixels. That really isn't too bad if you are going to make 4x6 or 5x7 prints. I have an excellent scan of my wife at that resolution. I actually have it at double that, but that makes the file size four times bigger. I usually scan very high and save as a tif, and then make a smaller preview file and save as a jpg. So I end up with a 16meg file and a 150k file of the same shot, for indexing. No special software, so I am not tied to any particulr viewer. Some of the banks in Missippi had their vaults fill up with water, so they are having a hard time recovering paper goods. Stop bath for B&W prints us a diluted mixture of acetic acid and water. The print I have that is getting yellow spots is from about 1985. In the lower res attached photo you can see some of the yellow around the candle sticks. I have cleaned up the tif quite a bit already, but it is way more apparent in the larger file. I hope she finds her negs and they are okay or another print that may not be having the same issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.