Frederick Noronha (FN) Would there be an interest in building up a public archive of old Goan photographs? I think pictures tell a story well, and we need to collate and put out in cyberspace photographs that tell the story of Goa. If this suggestion makes sense to you, send me a note. We could work out ways to build an archive, which then becomes a community asset, and is available to anyone who'd like to access, republish or otherwise share it.
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Dear Fred,
I had bounced off this very same idea with some CyberGoan friends of mine but it did not really take off. There is a small collection of old Goan photos archived at Goa-World.Com. Gaspar Almeida could give the proper URL where they are stored.
You see till 3 years back my brother Conrad used to work with me and a lot of the work we got in involved digital restoration. Most often people come to us with old photographs for the purpose of 'touching up'. This involves removing small flecks and scratches from the image after scanning. They then normally take a inkjet/laser print and preserve it. Sometimes people came in with terribly damaged old photos and expect us to perform digital miracles such as restoring a persons face from a complete blur! This of course is another story.
We would often tell them that we could scan and retouch the image in high resolution and then cut a CD for them where the photo would be preserved (relatively damage free) for posterity. Most of them were 'computer unaware' and do not realize the importance of such digital preservation. I no longer undertake digital restoration of photos.
There are many wonderfully preserved old photos (of interest to Goans anywhere) lying around in attics, hanging on walls and lying unseen in albums in Goa and abroad. They are slowly deteriorating and eventually we will lose a good part of our visually documented culture and heritage to the ravages of time.
Perhaps we could have a website that not only displays old Goan photos but also creates awareness about the appreciation and preservation of such photos. And also invite contributions (images, suggestions and technical expertise) from visitors.
Possible sections:
- A photo restorers (non -digital) FAQ could be posted advising visitors on the correct method to preserve conventional old photos (for example the reverse gummed sheets used in some albums damage photos considerably).
- Articles on digital scanning, retouching, and preservation. Also the storage and image outputting resources currently available (laser/ inkjet/ photobromides / negatives/ slides etc.)
- Organised and Indexed Archives
Suggested categories of images: - Organisations/Institutions in Goa (Group Photos) - Goan Organisations Abroad - Educational Institutions (Class Photos by region/date) - Family / Wedding/ Individual photos - Picnics/ Feasts / Performances etc - Buildings/ Streets/ Market places etc.
What is important is initially to have:
1) A cut off date for photo submissions (eg. only before 1980) so we don't have too recent stuff (with relatively little historical value) clogging up bandwidth and server space.
2) Resolution and format guidelines for submissions.
As my contribution towards this effort, once basic guidelines are set in place...
If anybody here in Goa has old photos and would like to have them scanned please get them over to my office in Panjim and I will scan them at high resolution and burn them on a CD for storage (please purchase a blank CD). I will not charge anything for this service provided they allow these photos to be displayed on the proposed website.
Cheers!
Cecil ====
