Archiving Family Photos & Documents

a Q for archivists:
I have volunteered to become our family archivist and will be scanning all photos & negs, starting from late 1800s/early 1900s… I’m fine with the tech side of it (scanning, metadata, naming, backup etc) but can you recommend any good articles or resources to check my process & identify my blindspots?
Aiming to get it right from the start… I’ve asked the same Q on twitter, tagging a couple of local archivists which one replied with this useful link:

Caring for collections guides

I am primarily focused on the film photos, negatives and 8mm film. For digital material, I will set up an automated system where anyone in the family can email a photo to a specific archive email address. And that will then add the photo to the archive, along with as much info and metadata as is available. The only bugbear: beware of apps that strip metadata etc eg photos shared via WhatsApp have no creation date or time stamp, or location.

 

 

tim life 2 Comments

This mortal coil

I have spent almost every waking hour of the last three weeks by my Dads side, as he reached the end of his incredible life. I really don’t have the words to express what he means to me, but I am proud to have been there for him right to the very end, 2.28am Tuesday 10th October 2023, just as he was there for me, from my very beginning.

We had a beautiful funeral service last Friday, for which I waded through about 300 photos to find the 50 that best illustrated the arc of his life. I found that process alone fairly heartbreaking, but the morning before the funeral I went for a drive down to where the family farm was & flew the drone. Afterwards I stopped at our old primary school to take a photo, and suddenly noticed the flag at the Hall was at half mast for Dad. Such a beautiful gesture. He retired from that farming community 27 years ago and we would never have even known about it, if I hadn’t randomly gone for that drive.

We gave Dad an excellent send off and afterwards I got to meet so many people who’s lives he had touched & who also loved him dearly. I loved hanging out with his two sisters Sue and Aurelie, who are 91, and 95 respectively. And I got to see them react when a photo with all three siblings appeared on the projector, a beautiful monochrome photo that is also 90+ years old.

You just never know the significance of actions until after the event, but in hindsight I am also proud to have been there for many of Dads most important ‘lasts’ eg I took him for a drive down to Dalbury for the last time, the farm that sustained our lives & where all of us kids grew up. And I took him for a drive up to Mt Somers for the last time, to the farm where he grew up as a kid, and we then went into Lake Heron on a perfect day. And I took him to see Mum for the last time.

Rest In Peace, my dear old Dad.
You were surrounded by love your entire life.
And what an incredible life you lived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tim life 2 Comments

Progress

Great work developing the waterfront in Lyttleton…

Ditto for the new wharf at Govenors Bay

Apparently “built using locally sourced, durable wood Eucalyptus trees” and mostly funded by epic $3 mill community effort.

Love the old boat launcher!
Shot much xpan here…

 

 

tim photo No Comments

Detritus 716

 

 


▶ An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet’s Ensh*ttification

 

 

▶ iNaturalist strikes out on its own
A new $10 million grant is helping the new nonprofit!!

 

 

▶ An Atlas of Consonance

 

 

▶ intiguingly creatively-useful Rolling Sampler

 

 

▶ And another: Catch is a simple monophonic performance sampler that allows live audio to be captured for instant playback and manipulation

 

 

▶ second chance to own a legit copy of allen stranges excellent book #synth

 

 


▶ a rather specific threat?
not my photo, credit due

 

 

▶ mmmmm Moritz Von Oswald – Silencio

 

 


▶ chilli growing aspirations…

 

 

▶ Graphème is a publication series with a thematic focus on experimental notation.

 

 

Track by Track: Vainqueur – „Solanus”


▶ Track by Track: Vainqueur – “Solanus”

 

 

▶ EPIC Games layoff 830 people thanks to unrealistic metaverse ambitions (the human cost of being sucked in by Zuck?) and have also sold Bandcamp (yikes!) to Songtradr
Hopefully they do not ruin Bandcamp in pursuit of the filthy luchre, but the aim is fairly obvious: they have bought direct access to the owners of all music on Bandcamp, enabling them to expand their music licensing bizo.
Did Bandcamp just become a stock music library, albeit it a quirky diverse one?
We shall see….

 

 

▶ Creating an audiovisual set: Performing with hydra, while also performing music

 

 


▶ Time, Structure, Timbre: Jean-Luc Hervé, Composer

 

 

 

 

tim Detritus No Comments

Down the road

There are a few primo locations in Aotearoa #nz (primo = photo x sound x experiental) where despite it being 2023 or whatever, the internet is only viable ‘down the road’

An example, I spent the last four days staying in a bach in Motukiekie, which had no wifi but claimed there was a cell signal. Excuse me but 2 bars does not an internet connection make, so a few times a day I would drive ‘down the road’ until 2 bars turned into 4 and it was suddenly possible to access the 21st century.

But driving down the road to get Internet access is not the interesting part.
Bear with me.

Heres why I was in Motukiekie:

Unless you somehow become aware, 99% of people would never even notice Motukiekie. If you leave Greymouth driving North, or leave Punakaiki (with its awe inspiring blowholes) heading South, you will likely drive by Motukiekie without noticing because it is a road through a narrow landscape. Mountains on one side and native forest on the other side, abruptly leading to sheer cliffs into the sea.

But for some weird geological reasons, there exists a set of defiant rock islands, just off the coast of Motukiekie.

Access is difficult – more on that later. But viable access is also tidal and 100% weather based. No one stumbles across this location, without research and preparation.

The psychological aspect that I love most of this location, is that it evokes similar feelings as time spent with karesansui x zen dry gardens. As with many great works of art, they feel accidental but simultaneously 100% intentional. Like throwing the perfect dice in some game that hasn’t been invented yet.

Ngawi (home to many fur seals) and Haast are two similarly epic locations, where the landscapes are intense and the internet is down the road

But here is the interesting part: spending time in such places reveals things. Things you might not otherwise even notice. Habits. Patterns. Reflex actions.

Of course I had my laptop. And some decent JBL LSR25 self-powered monitors. ableton LIVE. Tenori On. 2020 beat monster.

I had plenty of jams – being the West Coast rainforests, it rained continuously for 24 hours and I stayed home & made loud sounds. And quiet ones.

But I kept catching myself launching Chrome bookmarks. “Just checking whats up…” my brain told itself, while knowing that 2 bars does not an Internet connection make.

Moral of the story:
I believe I am preparing to air gap my studio

tim SOUND DESIGN: No Comments

Detritus 715

 

 

▶ William Gibson: “The street finds its own uses for things.”

things:

the street/S-CAT

3’20” omg! and 4’02

 

 

▶ A conversation about Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone

 

 

▶ “It hisses for about 20 seconds.” – guess what they are talking about?

 

 


▶ pro!

 

 


▶ RESTRING YOUR HARP!!

 

 


▶ I saw the photo above, of a “marching machine” percussion sound effects instrument, and wondered what it sounded like…. But I had the scale wrong, they are larger than I imagined:

 

 

▶ lol: an open letter to 17 year old boys who just discovered the doors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tim Detritus 1 Comment