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GernBlanston
unintended sideeffect


Registered: 05/28/03
Posts: 842
Loc: OR
Last seen: 2 years, 3 months
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Very OT: Strange question about fire damage and photos...
#2220687 - 01/05/04 01:52 PM (20 years, 27 days ago) |
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Mornin, all. This is an odd question, but I thought that of all the online communities I am a part of, folks here might have an answer or two that might help me out.
My house burnt down this morning. That's not the question. Everyone's okay - no big deal. However, some of the few things that were left as (questionably) salvageable are photographs.
Most of the photos have been damaged by smoke (very heavily) and water (less so). The other things we lost are just stuff, but the photos are very important to me. So here's the question:
Does anyone know how I might go about cleaning these photos without further harming them? I can't do anything about the damage that's been dealt already, but I would like to keep what I've got in the best condition I can. So I'm here asking y'all for suggestions. Anyone got some?
Love to all.
Gern
-------------------- There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. -- Howard Zinn
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daba
Stranger


Registered: 12/30/02
Posts: 3,881
Last seen: 11 years, 14 days
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Re: Very OT: Strange question about fire damage and photos.. [Re: GernBlanston]
#2220691 - 01/05/04 01:53 PM (20 years, 27 days ago) |
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Sorry for your house.
I think it is best if you take it to one of those people who specialize in restoring old photographs.
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GernBlanston
unintended sideeffect


Registered: 05/28/03
Posts: 842
Loc: OR
Last seen: 2 years, 3 months
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Re: Very OT: Strange question about fire damage and photos.. [Re: daba]
#2220695 - 01/05/04 01:57 PM (20 years, 27 days ago) |
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Thanks, Daba.
Yah - that was my first thought; and we will do that with a few of the more exceptional photos, such as our wedding photo, and a photo of my wife's great grand-parents. But to do so with all of my personal photos that have been water damaged would be prohibitively expensive, to say the least. I'm not going to get mint condition back out of these things.. but I'm hoping to be able to salvage a few stacks of the good ones.
-------------------- There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. -- Howard Zinn
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Dreamer987
The VerbalHerman Munster


Registered: 04/15/03
Posts: 5,326
Loc: Texas
Last seen: 16 years, 1 month
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Re: Very OT: Strange question about fire damage and photos... [Re: GernBlanston]
#2220827 - 01/05/04 02:48 PM (20 years, 27 days ago) |
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God, you seem to be handling things pretty well. I'd be bitching and moaning non stop for months. Its a mirracle nobody got hurt. as far as the photos look into different methods, and (if you can distinguish them) pick out some crappy ones that you don't like to experiment on. how did the fire start? did anybody almost get killed? are you gonna be homeless now?
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GernBlanston
unintended sideeffect


Registered: 05/28/03
Posts: 842
Loc: OR
Last seen: 2 years, 3 months
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Re: Very OT: Strange question about fire damage and photos... [Re: Dreamer987]
#2220861 - 01/05/04 03:04 PM (20 years, 27 days ago) |
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Thanks for the good mojo.
That's a good idea about piking out the less interesting pix to experiment on... Hadn't crossed my mind, but of course, I'm not very with it yet today.
The fire appeared to start in a kitchen florescent light fixture. Fortunately, my wife and I (and our 3 cats) moved out of the house about 2 weeks ago. We were in the process of moving the rest of our belongings and getting the house ready to sell. Initial estimates are that the fire did between $120K and $140K of damage. We are well insured, and we are living in our new place, so we aren't homeless, and most (60% or so) of our belongings are with us in the new place. So all in all, while not a great day, it could have been SO much worse. Complaining about it while knowing how much worse it really could have been seems like it would be incredibly bad kharma 
But thanks for the thoughts.
-------------------- There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. -- Howard Zinn
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