Having grown up in Southern California near Malibu the events of last week really hit home.  The question is not "if" but "when" is the next natural disaster or (man made) catastrophic event is going to strike.   Early in my career I worked as a photographer for the Santa Monica Evening Outlook and later Time Magazine so whenever those events occurred I was called to provide coverage.  The loss of one's personal possessions, no matter the circumstance, is always an emotional event, and unfortunately through these disasters we are reminded that we often fail to protect possessions that we value.  And though we tend to focus lots of attention on the big disasters, local or personal disasters also cause a tremendous amount of damage.  

When faced with a quick evacuation, many people, while gathering important documents or mementos, will grab photo albums or a box of pictures as they flee.  Lacking the time to do so, important documents and photos are left are at risk.  Amazingly, I have witnessed people running back into burning houses to save their photos.  While furnishings and household appliances, and for that matter the house, can be insured and replaced, one of a kind mementos are lost forever.

One of my co-workers, Betty Noonan, wrote a post in the 1000 Words blog about the house fire that changed her life.  Betty was lucky.  Though her house burned nearly to the ground, many of her pictures and personal mementoes were saved.

Picture of the fire from Betty's post.

Some people aren't quite as lucky though.  My good friend, Bill Eppridge, lost his home in the Laurel Canyon (California) fires in the early 70s.  While Bill's house and contents burned to the ground, miraculously, some of his pictures survived -- charred, but nonetheless intact.

Charred picture of the sailing ship Maneuva
Photo copyright and courtesy of Bill Eppridge

Photographs and "data," no matter what form they are in, are vulnerable to damage in many ways.  Kodak routinely receives calls from consumers after a disaster asking for our guidance on salvaging images. I'd like to talk about damage to our photo collections caused by fire, water or debris (soot, dust) and steps we could take to fix or prevent that damage.  But first, a few scary statistics:

• In 2006, fire departments responded to 412,500 home fires in the U.S.
  • >  1000 calls/day
  • Every 20 seconds a U.S. fire department responds to a call (residential, commercial, ...)
• In 2005, residential fires caused nearly $7 billion in damage
  • Fire breaks out in a home every 83 seconds
• The average home fire burns for 20 minutes at 700⁰ F (371⁰ C) -- business fires at 800⁰ F (427⁰ C)
  • Average heat intensity in a home fire = 1200⁰ F (649⁰ C)
• 95% of all fires have water present (sprinklers, fire hoses)
  • Fire hoses squirt out 100 - 250 gallons of water per minute
• None of the above counts water damage or flooding due to storms, snow, ice or plumbing

Now consider that:

• Paper chars at 450⁰ F (232⁰ C)
• Digital media is impacted at temperatures > 125⁰ F (52⁰ C) and 80% humidity
  • "Impacted" means melting, warping, etc rendering media non-viable
  • Digital media includes CDs, DVDs, hard drives, tape, memory cards, memory sticks

Just to give you a frame of reference for your digital media, the optimal brewing temperature for a cup of coffee is generally cited as being in the range 175-205⁰ F (79-96⁰ C) with a holding temperature of 180-190⁰ F (82-88⁰ C).  In addition, a 20 second exposure at 160⁰F (71⁰ C) can produce 3rd degree burns on skin

So back to the story ...  We're looking at damage to both hardcopy and digital collections.  But we also need to address both the possibilities for recovery/restoration and, more importantly, the steps we can take to prevent the loss of our collections.

Recovery
Burned paper is burned paper - not too much you can do about that.  However, if your prints or albums are wet or soiled, there are techniques that can be used.  These techniques are very well described in an article produced by the Image Permanence Institute at the Rochester Institute of Technology, "A Consumer Guide for the Recovery of Water-Damaged Traditional and Digital Prints."  A summary excerpt is included below.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER: Because successful salvage of water-damaged prints depends upon the specific situation, it isn't possible to recommend exact, universal procedures that should always be followed. Consider the following critical factors before beginning the salvage operation.

1. Availability of replacement prints. First, determine if new prints can be made, either from the original negative or from a digital file. This would  save labor and would result in a more satisfactory print.
2. Time constraints. If the number of damaged albums or prints is so great that they cannot all be treated within 48 hours, or if there are other constraints that prevent quick treatment, the wet materials should be frozen until salvage can be started.
3. Extent of damage. Contaminated or soiled prints must be washed before they are dried and before any salvage activities begin. If they are not saturated with water but are wet only at the edges, it may be possible to employ relatively mild drying techniques such as air drying.
4. Storage mode. Prints stored in boxes or envelopes must be immediately separated and then washed (if necessary) and dried using either the blotter-paper or air drying technique.
5. Print removal. If the prints were mounted in the album, they should be removed from the pages before drying to prevent additional print distortion.
6. Types of prints. Traditional photographic, dye diffusion thermal transfer, and pigment ink jet images can withstand considerable water exposure.  However, ink jet materials featuring dye images are very susceptible to damage. You will have to decide if enough image remains to justify a   time-consuming salvage operation or if the prints should be discarded. Color photographic prints and ink jet dye prints on swellable paper should be air dried with nothing touching the image surface. Black-and-white photographic, dye diffusion thermal transfer, and ink jet images on microporous paper should be dried between blotting paper under uniform pressure.
7. Optimum result. Generally, the most satisfactory result will be obtained if water-damaged prints are removed, dried, flattened, and then remounted in new albums.

There are limited techniques available for the recovery of digital media -- minor scratches or water damage.  But again, fire damaged media is generally unrecoverable.

Prevention
One could say that an ounce of prevention is worth a whole lot more than untold hours of recovery.  A few of the possibilities are
1. Back-up CDs or DVDs          (Stored in an alternate location  
2. Back-up hard drive              or in a fire safe)
3. Remote backup service or remote photo storage

REMOTE SERVICE:   They are out there.  These range from services that will literally backup your hard drive on a regular basis to photo storage sites such as the Kodak Gallery.  The remote backup services may be a bit pricey, but they do guarantee that all the data on your computer is preserved.  Many of the photo storage sites offer free unlimited storage.  Some offer unlimited storage for a small fee.  In either case, your photos can be reprinted for a nominal fee if needed.

CD/DVD/HARD DRIVE:  Many of us already back up our digital photos to CD or DVD and increasingly more avid photographers back up to a hard drive.  Either system is only as effective as our ability to protect the media.  Unless you choose to store your media in a remote location (take a copy to work), your best bet may be a fire safe.  The current generation of safes are surprisingly affordable, are available in a variety of sizes and are rated for protection time, temperature and type of contents protected.  Some safes are specified as media safes -- remember that digital media is destroyed at 125⁰ F (52⁰ C) while paper is destroyed at 450⁰ F (232⁰ C) -- while others also carry a waterproof rating.  You can also purchase a fireproof, waterproof USB, Firewire or NAS hard drive.

Firesafe, Waterproof, Media rated -- ½ hour fire protection at temps up to 1500⁰F (816⁰C)

Though the above measures are aimed at your digital collection, they also work on digitized images.  Many of us have thousands of paper prints that we have captured over the years -- in albums, in shoeboxes, in photo sleeves.  Many photo or imaging retail locations provide photo scanning services.  Your entire paper collection can be quickly scanned, uploaded to a storage site and written to CD or DVD.  Kodak has such a system deployed in a vehicle called the ScanVan.  Aimed at demonstrating the value and ease of use to consumers, the ScanVan is traveling across America.  In fact, many Kodak employees had the opportunity to use the system recently when the ScanVan stopped in Rochester.  You can get the details in another recent post by Joel Rosen entitled "Meet the ScanVan!"

The ScanVan in Rochester, from Joel's post.

So you have a few choices.  You can try to recover your damaged images or you can take preventive measures.  But better yet, why not share your images broadly?  Any picture/image sent to friends and family -- whether hardcopy or a photo gallery album -- is a good insurance policy. 

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