Oh, By the way, last night I printed a SIXTY YEAR old negative....."
Here's my thoughts on this:
1) Most people save prints, and the negatives disappear. This is why there is such a big business in restoration. It is far more important to be concerned about the archivability of prints than negatives;
2) Most film shot over the last forty years is color negative, which will not last sixty years. Even slide film deteriorates. My father sent me his Kodachrome slides last year during a move, all of which had been very carefully stored and not projected more than two or three times. Most are faded to unusability.
3) I live in an area that will have a major earthquake at some time in the not-too-distant future. My negatives may be destroyed. Even the tree in the backyard falling during a rainstorm could destroy my negatives. My digital files are stored in three different locations on two types of media and will disappear permanently unless the continent sinks into the sea.
4) I have digital files dating back to my first computer, a PC I bought in the mid-80s, in useable formats. It isn't that difficult to copy old files, although it may take some time.
5) Finally, every time I take a negative out of the sleeve and put it back, I do more damage than happens to any digital file in normal usage.
Jeff Spirer Photos: http://www.spirer.com One People: http://www.onepeople.com/ Surfaces and Marks: http://www.withoutgrass.com
