105. Kodak Moment

My niece graduated from high school today and it was full of those "Kodak Moments". The four cousins were together again for the first time in over two years and of course I wanted to get a shot of them all together. Now that the age range is from 8 to almost 21 it wasn't very difficult. There is no longer a need to bribe with lollipops - the cooperation has increased exponentially. We were together for lunch, captured the moment, and went home to change for big event.

Later in the day Roger, my father-in-law brought out a shoe box of some old, really old, family photographs. Guessing by the process and presentation some were over 100 years old. As he was showing me the photographs, all of great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, and possibly great-great-great-grandparents of my children we realized that there was no labels or indication on most of the photographs that would tell us who they were. They're ancestors, but which ancestors?

As evening fell we drove over to Caitlin's graduation and of course there were plenty of "moments" captured. With each one I wondered if they would end up in the 22nd century equivalent of a shoe box. I remember having a discussion with my mentor, Robbert Flick, about the archival quality of photographs. While the traditional black and white process (silver gelatin) is wonderfully archival, typical color snap shots (Type C) are far  less lasting. I remember Robbert saying that the most personal documented time in history would eventually be a giant black hole of photographs  - nothing, all faded away as the type C process just isn't archival enough to last.

Since that conversation with my mentor 20 years ago, the digital revolution hit. Storing photographic images on a hard drive that last 5 years at best is even less archival than a color type C print. My solution? I upload photographs to Flickr, Picassa, Shutterfly, Facebook or whatever photo site of the month is popular. What happens when I pass? It is a digital shoe box that no one can open...