An old (poor )retired art collector friend bought a black and white
photograph about 2 yrs ago.I saw it on his wall recently and noticed the
edges fading .It was obviously a digital print.I didnt have the heart to
mention what was happening.He wont be around too much longer, so why spoil
it.
IMHO ,Black and white art photography should be archival.PERIOD!
But at the very least ,please dont sell ink jet prints to collectors who
assume they are going to last more than a lifetime, with out some
notification of their impermanence.
Color or black and white art prints from digital should be printed by Light
Jet on Fuji Crystal Archive.
KenK
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"Not all old photos will tend to fade
Expert gives tips on preservation
Washington Post Wednesday, June 25, 2003
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Thinking about the perishability of 20th century photography might get you
thinking about your own photo archive -- the stash of snapshots and slides
languishing in closets, boxes, damp basements.
You might even feel an urge to grab a garden shovel and head for the
backyard to begin construction of your own personal underground vault.
Don't do it, says Henry Wilhelm.
Like a physician at a backyard barbecue, Wilhelm, one of the country's
leading experts on photo permanence, often finds himself fielding questions
from civilians who want to know how to best preserve their pictures.
"Oh yes," he says, "any discussion leads to that right away, and it's a very
good question, because personal pictures are historical archives, too."
His advice can be boiled down to two commandments.
First, forget about the backyard dirt pit. Even if you could avoid damaging
the pictures when you eventually dug them up, the ground is simply too
moist. And so is the family food freezer.
Far better, and even more low-tech, is to make sure to have two sets of all
important photos, one for display, and one to keep in a dark, dry place. (A
closed photo album will do the job just fine.)
Because the stability of color processing has improved dramatically since
the 1980s, Wilhelm says, color prints made recently and stored away from
light should be in "quite good condition" 100 years from now.
Wilhelm's second commandment is this: If you have the choice, make sure your
color pictures are printed on something called Fujicolor Crystal Archive
paper, a brand that is readily available at chains like MotoPhoto and
Wal-Mart and more specialized stores.
Both Fuji Crystal Archive and Kodak paper hold up fine stored in the dark
(both lasting 100 years), but Fuji is much more stable when exposed to
daylight, Wilhelm says.
The superiority and ubiquity of Fuji's Crystal Archive paper are a result of
Fuji's decision, 20 years ago, to make a major effort to improve color
permanence at a time when Kodak, which had a near 100 percent market
monopoly, chose not to do so.
Kodak's decision is now widely recognized as a massive management failure,
says Wilhelm, one that gave Fuji an opening to develop and patent materials
that it controls to this day.
Nowadays, all Fuji paper used in the United States is manufactured here as
well, and Wal-Mart, this country's biggest photo-finisher, uses Fuji Crystal
Archive paper as a matter of course. "
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