Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]ben Holmes wrote: <<How do you store your negs and chromes?>>> Hi Ben: My material is in two or three locations as I describe below: All the "chromes" that are not with the stock agency "MASTERFILE" in Toronto are broken down into Provinces of Canada, subject, political and international. These are apart from those with the Government National archives. They are sleeved in 20 slide Archival pages and filed in three ring binders with identifying topics on the spine of the binder. Throw the boxes away as they do nothing but take up space and do not allow for quick assessment if a client wants something from your files. Negatives and contacts are filed together in three ring binders also. The negs are in archival pages and the contacts three hole punched and with each neg page for quick retrieval and reference. Everything is filed in the computer by year, assignment number/roll no. Each assignment is given title and information of who, what, where etc. This allows for a greater value in an archival manner, many years down the road. Your files become of greater dollar value the more information you have who the principals are and when and where the frames were made. This information is crucial for archival purpose and can make your files of a greater monetary value in years to come. unfortunately some photographers can't remember what they shot last week, let alone twenty five years ago, so that is why it is so important to log all the information you can. And I don't mean exposure notes, as in most cases that really isn't relevant if you have the President in your images. Mine are in a cool room, of normal humidity. <<<Like Oddmund, I lost EVERY negative I had ever made before the age of 25 to damage from fire sprinklers.>>>> Fortunately for me most of my work apart from the past ten years are already part of the National Photography Collection of Canada within the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa. Much of the work is cataloged and stored within their environmentally controlled and fire proof vaults. Other of my assignments for the National Film Board of Canada are stored similarly in the National Art Gallery of Canada. I realize that not everyone has the opportunity to have their material stored in such fine environmentally controlled conditions. But what isn't there I keep as safely as possible as I described above in my home/office. I guess apart from storing in fire proof vaults, a cost few can afford, the next best thing is in as safe a place as possible. I have a couple of friends who edit the cream of their work each time an assignment is completed and those pages go to a safety deposit vault storage. This costs money, but then are we not producing "priceless work"? Never to be shot again! One can only say a prayer and try to keep your location as safe as possible. ted