Abstract
A photograph is the solidification of dynamic events of the past within a fixed image, paradoxically creating both an objective visual representation of the event captured by the lens, and simultaneously, a subjective image which represents the photographers’ authorial viewpoint. As interpretative objects, photographs are ideal archival artifacts, allowing visual entry into a preserved past, while maintaining illusive knowledge requiring analysis and research. However, photographs are also the byproduct of a chemical process (the interplay of refracted light on a reactive surface), and are, therefore, highly volatile and susceptible to the degradation and decay of time. Archivists are tasked with the preservation of images of value, typically achieved through the use of digitization. Allowing that digitization is not the preservation of an original, but a copy, (of a copy), what challenges do we encounter as we alter the medium of our visual photography heritage? How might digital images further dilute the ‘truth’, supposed or otherwise, of the photograph?
Presenters
Christopher LongArchives Arrangement and Description Librarian, Archives and Research Collections, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Archives, Photography, Digitization, History
