Most of us enjoy taking photographs to preserve the memories of family vacations, important milestones or just the faces of the ones we love. But despite our love of photography, our prints often end up left in the developer's envelope or thrown into an old shoebox. Transferring your photographs to a more attractive and secure method of storage will not only let you enjoy them more, but help preserve them against damage and loss.
Mimi Craven is an experienced celebrity photographer from North Hollywood, Calif., and has shot images for a wide variety of magazine covers. Here she offers professional tips for storing your photographs:
- Archival quality albums. Craven's favorite way of storing and displaying photos is with old-fashioned photo corners on archival albums made with acid-free paper. She strongly advises against the use of sticky-front photo pages, as these can damage your prints.
- Scratches. Craven also recommends placing your photos on only one side of the album pages, so they will not touch each other and create scratches. If you already have albums that display photos on both sides of the page, you might want to place a single piece of bonded paper between each page to minimize scratching.
- Archival boxes. If you prefer loose prints to photos laid out in an album, Craven suggests buying archival quality storage boxes. These are superior to shoe boxes as they are typically made to fit the size of prints, are constructed of acid-free paperboard, and feature places to affix catalog labels.
- Writing. If you must write captions or dates on your photos, Craven suggests doing it on the back edges of your photos with ink that is not likely to bleed through. This will avoid prints that have embossed writing showing through the middle of the image.
The point is to guarantee that your treasured family photographs will be enjoyed for generations to come, so make sure to store and display your prints with the same care and attention that you showed when snapping the photo!
For more information on photography and photo storage, check out the following websites:
Photo Albums—Care and Preservation
genealogy.about.com/library/authors/ucmishkin2a.htm
Photo Preservation
www.webyfl.com/generic.jhtml?pid=6
Preserving Memories: Caring For Your Heritage
www.lib.cmich.edu/clarke/pres.htm
Guidelines for Preserving Your Photographic Heritage
www.geocities.com/Heartland/6662/photopre.htm
Preserving Your Photographs: Windows to the Past
www.mnhs.org/preserve/conservation/photpres.html
Next: Archival Photo Mounting
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