From: Art Kerbs (akerbs@andresimaging.com)
Date: 04/09/00-11:00:11 AM Z
Dear Robert, Great article, I named it the "Technology or Greed" article. or we could call it the "Instant Gratification Photo" article.
Faster is not necessary better. Thanks again for your insight.
Sincerely,
Art Kerbs
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert W. Schramm [SMTP:schrammrus@hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2000 10:20 PM
To: alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
Subject: Thanks
Thanks to all for help with the 16mm movie camera.
This project got me thinking about preservation again. Especially
photography.
I believe we had a discussion not long ago re the electronic camera
eventually replacing film.
As new photographic technology is developed there seems to be no
consideration of archival properties. For example, photography
was pretty much all black and white and either medium or large
format up until the 1960s when color began taking over.
Since the 60s there has been a rather large accumulation of color
images which, as we all know, are not archival. I doubt if anyone
is going to spend the money to copy this stuff so a lot of it will
just fade away with time. Video tape is not any better and inkjet
prints are worse. The best we have right not for color is
Kodachrome (50-75 yrs), optical CD (50 yrs) and Ilfochrome (200 yrs)
which is rather expensive. We archivists like thing to last for hundreds of
years so we like B & W silver-gelatine on fiber, toned
(300-1000 yrs), platinotype on 100% rag, neutral paper (forever?)
and gum with carbon as the pigment on good paper (also perhaps
forever). Photogravure should also last quite a while depending on the
ink and paper.
My point is that sometimes the older technology is better after all.
Perhaps the alternative process printers will be the people who
save our images for posterity.
Of course the life spans quoted above are estimates since, excepting
Niepce's image, the oldest image now in existence would be Daguerre's
1837 plate which is only 163 years old.
One more point. I have in our archives a 16mm Kodachrome movie which
was made in 1934 which, I believe, was the year Kodachrome was first
released. The experts say Kodachrome has a life of 50 years but this
film is now 66 years old and I can see no evidence of fading. It has
been kept in a steel can and projected only a few times.
Bob Schramm
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