Don't Risk Losing Precious Photos! Digital Images Deserve Archival Prints

By Author: Jack Allen
Total Articles: 1
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For well over a century, photographs have been our key to preserving life's richest memories. From school portraits to family candid’s, from snapshots of holiday parties to treasured moments in faraway places, photographs help us remember the people and places we hold most dear.

With advances in digital technology, we can now take all the pictures we want without the expense and bother of buying film and processing. Instead of printing, treasured images can be archived and viewed on our personal computers. Why then are so many of us finding our fondest memories and sometimes large chunks of our family history suddenly gone forever?

The answer is simple. In cutting corners, many of us don't realize that computers occasionally crash and when they do, they frequently take our data with them. There are plenty of options for backing up computers to prevent this brand of disaster. But how many of us forget or simply don't take the necessary precautions to protect our precious photo archives? For those of us who grew up in the 1990's or earlier, we could always turn to that old box of ...
... pictures and negatives in the garage where we stored our family history. Here in the digital age, we have to learn to live without it.

"The best and most cost-effective way to preserve your family memories is to print the photos you know you'll want to keep," says Jack Allen, Photo restoration expert at Dream City Photo Lab in North Hollywood. "But print them as real photos, not inkjets or dye prints which are of questionable longevity. I like the security of knowing that if my computer malfunctions or goes up in smoke, I have my photo albums safe in a separate location. When a computer file occasionally becomes corrupted or unprintable, I simply pull the print and rescan it, and all is not lost."

What about storing your digital photos on CD's? Jack urges against it. "Some folks try to store their digital images on CD's and then find out years later they can't get the disks to re-open which can be really aggravating. CD's are for temporary filing; by no means are they meant for long-term storage."

And Jack says you can still find drugstores--and occasional photo labs like his, of course--that still use machine photo-printing technology in which photo-sensitive paper gets exposed to light. "It's the same basic process from the day the camera was invented...and most of those early photos are still around. I always say, 'If you want it to last, stick with real photographs'. They cost the same (and often quite a bit less) than what you're going to pay doing it yourself at some kiosk."

And quality-wise, according to Jack, there's no comparison to a real photograph. "Fuji tried to sell me on the idea of replacing my equipment with their latest dye print jobbers. First I laughed. Then I asked why. Their argument was that dye prints would be more profitable for me. But I don't get it. I charge $79 for 100 8x10's on matte or glossy paper. How is a dye printer going to compete with that price? No wonder so many professional photo labs have gone the way of the dodo bird."

Author Bio:

JACK ALLEN, digital artist and founder of DREAM CITY PHOTO who has spent most of his career working in TV production, thoroughly understands the casting process and takes an active interest in helping actors perfect their photographs. He personally restores classic Hollywood photos for various private archives.