TERRY GREEN PHOTOPhotography And Photos

Preserve your family photos forever

What a reverential feeling it is to look at our old family photos! Our old tattered photo albums keep the dearest photos of our closest and most beloved people. These pages of family history contained in a photo album represent a visual genealogical tale of different epochs, characters and life stories. So, it is quite natural to protect the photo memories of the family from the destructive influence of time.

But how should we keep photos?

The most favorable conditions for photo album storage are those without sharp fluctuation in temperature and moisture. The suitable temperature is the same as that for human beings – not very cold and not very hot, about 18-20 degrees Celsius. A hermetic case made of high quality plastic could become the best place and way of keeping photo albums. Cardboard cases with an inscription ‘for archive storage’ can also be suitable to keep albums but they are not so good at protecting from various external influences as the plastic ones. It is also essential to make sure that the material the case is made of does not contain PVC. The same refers to albums with transparent pages which can be put in. Pages with compartments made of PVC-material tend to be chemically unstable and can damage the photos. Decomposable chemical components can produce various colored spots. Moreover, it can often cause the photos to get glued to the compartments, which makes it impossible to remove the photo from the compartment.

One more type of photo album pages not recommended for use is that with adhesive pages, the so-called magnetic or magic ones. They are made of cardboard and thin transparent plastic with a latex strip. A photo covered with the transparent plastic is stuck to the page with the help of the latex strips, but the strips can leave yellow spots on the image. Some time later the sticky strip will become so hard that it will be impossible to get the photo from the page without damaging it.

When choosing a new photo album, you should pay special attention to the material the pages are made of. If your photo album is made of the above-mentioned materials or some others which might damage your photos, you should take immediate measures to save your pictures and put them into a safe album.

Unfortunately, the photos may already have been stuck to the pages too hard to be removed from the album without damaging. In this case, you can make photocopies of each photo on a plane scanner or you can have it done at the nearest photographer’s by a professional. Then the original album and the new one with the photocopies should be stored in special archive boxes (cases).

Never use rubber glue, aerosol glue or Scotch tape to stick photos to the page! MYLAR-D corners are the best solution to this problem.

On the other side of a photograph there might be a caption with useful information about the people in the photo, the date, the place and the photographer. You can copy the information for each photograph and use it in the new album under the right photo. Then you won’t have to take the photos out of the compartments just to read the text, everything will be before your eyes and you will look through the album in a more comfortable way.

When putting your photographs into another album, it is advisable to preserve the initial chronological order. This will help you get additional information when you look through the album, e.g. about the development of family relationships.

If a photo album is in good condition and you would like to preserve it as it is, you can use the method of encapsulation of pages. This method involves the process of putting each page between two pieces of polymer plastic, such as MYLAR-D or MELINEX 516. Encapsulation helps to protect photographs from wear, damage, dust and other unfavorable effects of the environment. This method is also good to preserve frail and torn photographs but it is not recommended for modern color photos.

Having family albums offers you unique, affordable, and easy solutions for preserving and sharing your memories of favorite times, special moments of your life and of previous generations for many years. If you do not have an opportunity or do not wish to do the repairs of your photo albums on your own, have a restorer - photo master or a bookbinder do it for you.

About the Author

My name’s Victor Strelkovsky. I am a professional photographer. For more then 20 years I have been working in the sphere of photojournalism. Since childhood, after my father presented me with a Leica camera on my birthday, I had admiration for taking photos. This camera influenced the formation of my photographical views. Thanks to it, I became a true admirer of photographic art.
My site: http://www.photomaster.biz/

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