TOMMY WILLIAMS / L’Observateur / May 2, 1999

According to my wife, I’m what you can call a “collector.” Like many otherindividuals I find it very difficult – almost impossible – to part with objects from my past. Although most of these objects or items bare no real financialvalue, I consider their emotion value to be somewhat priceless. Items such asold family photos, pressed flowers from high school proms and birthday cards all seem important to me. Each and every item or object I’ve collected seems tohave it’s own special meaning and emotional value. They represent where I’vebeen, what I’ve done and how much and how little I’ve changed.

As I look through some of those old, priceless family photos of when I was 2 and 3 years old (30 something now), I can really notice how much both myself and the photos seem to be aging. Photos change color, wrinkle and much like we do,they fall apart just like we do. Older photographs were printed on a fiber basepaper, which tends to be the reason why many of these photos deteriorate. Acidin the paper and damage due to ultra-violet light tend to be the culprits here.

Older black and white and color photos turn brown, fade and then break apart into pieces, and after about 30 to 40, not all, but quite a few of them will deteriorate. Now, photographic papers are constructed with a resin or plastictype base, which has a longer life expectancy than fiber based papers of the past.

All that is fine and dandy for new photos, but what can be done to save older photos? This is where the new era of computer software and scanner technology comes into play. Deteriorating photograph can be scanned, restored, stored forfuture viewing or outputted to a printer. Computer programs, such as AdobePhotoshop, can be use to correct for fading or changing color, repair wrinkles and tears, sharpen out of focus photos and even add or remove individuals from photographs. Lakeside Camera, Pro Color Lab and Primary Color Lab are probablyyour best sources of high quality photo restoration. Ask about the price first.Some memories can become more costly to restore than others. Most labs chargeabout $60 per hour while they’re on the computer.

So don’t discard any of those old collectable photos of the past yet. They justmight become that priceless gift for the future.Back to Top

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