Digital BW, The Print

At 10:07 PM 8/26/03 -0700, you wrote:
>Tim, Jon,
>
>Thanks for the very interesting information. It will be incredibly ironic,
>after the negative reception of inkjet prints by the collectors and
>publications such as Lens Works and B&W, if carbon pigment inkjet prints
>turn out to be more stable than silver fiber.
>
>I always thought that the gelatin would be the weak link in silver printing
>since it is an organic substance produced from meat processing by products.
>Isn't it even less stable than the paper? I know it is very hydroscopic and
>gas permeable. Of course I suspect most quality inkjet papers are size with
>gelatin so we may be in the same boat.<G>
>
>I wonder ultimately if storage and display conditions are not more critical
>than the medium chosen. (I vividly recall a 12" tall stack of boxed silver
>fiber prints the termites got to. They ate everything. Paper, gelatin and
>silver without discrimination! Looked like a Swiss cheese.) All in all,
>photography is art on paper and expectations of centuries-long print life
>seem more than a bit ridiculous.
>
>Tim, I have read arguments that no form of digital storage can be considered
>archival since it is dependent upon a machine for retrieval. What is the
>current thought on this?
>
>Martin Wesley
>http://www.carolyn.cc/Guests/MartinWesley/pages/MW_01.html
>http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Tim Atherton [mailto:timatherton@...]
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 9:28 PM
> > To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: RE: [Digital BW] Re: Septone system (LONG)
> >
> >
> >
> > > I have been doing some research into historical mediums lately
> > and part of
> > > that led me to spend time in the archives at the George Eastman House in
> > > Rochester (which I think are very extensive with many examples of
> > > extremely
> > > high quality). So I have been looking at a great deal of vintage
> > > photography
> > > that is "supposed" to last for many, many generations. The
> > reality is that
> > > the substrates are sensitive to the environment. It is becoming more and
> > > more apparent as I dig, that the proverbial silver print that is
> > > supposed to
> > > last centuries may be a theory. I mean that in regards to being
> > exposed to
> > > light and the elements. I am not a archivist, though I have been
> > > conversing
> > > with many about this, but it appears that much of the
> > conventional silver
> > > prints are on substrates which act like sponges. Those examples
> > of silver
> > > prints in which the silver has not faded or reacted have
> > essentially been
> > > kept out of the light and out of the air and in dark, dry contact with
> > > stable cotton paper (and usually inadvertently so.)
> > >
> >
> > Coming from the archives world, I have mentioned this a few times on here,
> > but it has generally been dismissed... :-)
> >
> > The above is one of the major reasons behind the development of digital
> > standards for archiving photographs - to save the many many silver based
> > images (and other types) that are rapidly deteriorating and to enable them
> > to be shown and used in some form.
> >
> > Other than storage in the most ideal of conditions (and probably expensive
> > sub-zero storage at best), more and more silver based images will continue
> > top deteriorate, with the rate of that deterioration only increasing
> >
> > tim


Guys,

This topic gets batted around continually on photo lists.  One aspect of 
archive ability  is that the material must have occasional attention by 
archivists.  That would include transferring digital material to newer media.

Why is it that black and white photographs receive more attention - call it 
obsession - regarding  keeping properties? Conventional color photos aren't 
expected to last and lithographic and even "fine art" prints and 
watercolors are understood to change over time.  I think a relative 
standard to other media based on how well they respond to archival 
correctives is all that is necessary. The silver print (kept in a nitrogen 
atmosphere inside Yucca mountain)  shouldn't be the bench mark for every 
kind of print.

AZ