I had the fortunate opportunity of being able to taste 3 very old wines recently. The first two, which were from 1970s had clearly not fared well- from the initial removal of the cork, it was clear that they had pretty much turned to vinegar. The third however, which was from a decade earlier, was a different matter. This wine was quite simply ......astounding. It was like opening a window on the past. The unique combination of conditions which came to make this purple-red liquid all those years ago- the sun scorched earth of that long, hot summer, the yeasts and sugars from the grapes and the acidity of the soil were all perfectly encapsulated. But it was more than just good wine. It was a living, breathing, organic thing.
And this is like print photography in many ways. I was at exhibition in London last week of Wim Wenders' polaroids and had exactly the same feeling. These weren't just a collection of bits and bytes on a screen- they had a physical presence. They had been touched and passed around. Each one was the first frame of their own unique movie stretching back over 40 years. They had life.
I wonder what will happen to our digitized images over the years. Places like Flickr are an incredible way of sharing our images with the world but I wonder if we shouldn't also give some thought to printing and archiving at least some of our favourites. Because when they're gone from our hard disks, they're gone forever.
This is Tuscany last autumn. An image I know I can't repeat. Does anyone have any printer ink?
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