Photo storage

[jkm4874ford]

I have a two car attached garage, pretty standard. I have several storage containers full of family pictures (4 kids 2 of which are grown). I am afraid to store in the attic due to the heat.. Need ideas for best method of storage and to get them out of the way.

 

[Alchymist]

I know it will take a while, but scan them and store them on CDs or DVDs. Makes it easy to share too....regular 3X5 or so can be scanned 4 or 6 at a time, then later split if needed.

 

[DanCo]

Have you thought of those vacuum seal storage bags you see on the infomercials?

 

[Mr.N]

x2 Scan them in

Any relative that are under 10 now will not know how to turn the pages, as everything will be on a computer device.

 

[jkm4874ford]

Thanks guys, Wow that is a lot to scan. Great idea tho. At least they might get a little more organized.

 

[Vvmvbb]

I'll bet you can find a service provider to scan those for you. Maybe the same folks that convert all the super8's and VHS tapes to digital formats.
Meantime, I'd put 'em all in rubbermaid bins with some desiccant.

 

[jimp]

If you do keep them non digital, heat, light and moisture will destroy them.
They make boxes for storage but the best place is in a proper album (non acid paper) and stored in AC house. NO ATTIC.

 

[larry_g]

Way back when I was first learning photography one thing that stuck with me was " if your getting more than 1 keeper off a roll of 36 then your not being critical enough." I've tried to keep that in mind when keeping pictures. In your situation I would go through and pick a few that are really good and representative of the occasion it was meant to capture, wedding, vacation, graduation, or what ever. Keep and scan them and archive the print. Then have a family party and allow the rest to be picked over by them and toss the rest.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[garboui]

Way back when I was first learning photography one thing that stuck with me was " if your getting more than 1 keeper off a roll of 36 then your not being critical enough." I've tried to keep that in mind when keeping pictures. In your situation I would go through and pick a few that are really good and representative of the occasion it was meant to capture, wedding, vacation, graduation, or what ever. Keep and scan them and archive the print. Then have a family party and allow the rest to be picked over by them and toss the rest.

lg
no neat sig line

I completely agree with this as ive had plenty of time where a 100sheet box or 8x10 paper in the darkroom yields single digit keepers though he may have photos that hold more keepsake value than art.

 

[ket-tek]

I'd put 'em all in rubbermaid bins with some desiccant.

After having a huge box of old photo's of my great grandparents and my parents as kids mostly destroyed after a water leak. My sister and I went through them all saved what we could and then stored them in a conditioned area in plastic bins with desiccant.

Some people say you can use cat litter or charcoal as well, but that seemed a bit messy/dusty for long term photo storage.

We do plan to scan them at some point. But it is still not the same as looking through some of these old pictures in hand from the 20's - 50's ..

 

[Jagmandave]

The thing about digitizing them is that you can easily share them with others, and they're much more portable. I keep all of mine in several places tho, just in case. I have a desktop which doesn't get used much anymore, so I use it's harddrive for photo and other important doc storage.

I also download them to those neat little USB memory sticks, an 8 gig drive will hold a ton of pics! That way if I'm going to a family event or something, I can pop it into a computer (or even the newer flat screen TVs) and have a fun remember when show.

If it seems like too much work (and it is a lot if you have a lot of pics) it might be worth your time and effort to take them to a service and let them do it for you, many of them offer P-shop too, to correct red eye or sharpen up faded pics. They can then load them onto DVD's or Thumb drives. If you do, it might be smart to organize them a bit first, either by time frame or subject ( all of aunty-so and so, all of brother Bill and so on....)