Hawke's Bay photographer Eva Bradley, who lives near the flood-ravaged Esk Valley, has spent the last week helping friends and neighbours clean up their homes. When she noticed friends and family abandoning piles of photos covered in sludgy silt, she swung into action to help save them.
"I became a photographer because I'm one of those people that unless I have a photo of something I find I just don't remember it. If you've lost everything, to lose your memories of everything as well is so painful. I just thought, well, I have no idea if these can be saved but I'm going to give it my best shot."
Photographs Photo: pixabay
Bradley says it's been "a steep learning curve", figuring out a workable process with the aid of "Dr Google", but the results have been worth it.
"There's so much I've managed to save and I'm just hoping I can help other people get a bit of info so they can help friends as well."
She says the first step is to start with working out what may exist digitally.
"There's no point point trying to salvage a photo if it can be reprinted from a digital source."
Photo processing is a water-based process, so it's fine to wash photos as long as you use clean tap water and resist the urge to add any detergents. Rinse off any mud or muck and carefully peel them apart, using your hands to push off any silt. Glossy or matte gloss finishes are surprisingly durable, Bradley says.
"If they've dried out a bit, I would recommend just letting them soak in a tray of water for a couple of minutes just to soften up the silt and the emulsion where it's sticking to other surfaces. And then just slowly, under running water or moving the water around on a tray, just peel them off. Make sure they're well-supported underneath with card or your hands."
When the photo is as clean as possible, Bradley says to lie it flat on the floor, ideally on an absorbent surface like a clean towel.
"Try and encourage as much airflow as possible because they are subject to mildew and mould quite quickly."
When cleaned photos are dry, Bradley says the next stage is assessing whether or not they'll need further treatment.
"A lot of photos will be fine at that point. Once they're very dry, you can flatten them out under a heavy pile of books or lightly low-heat iron them between baking paper.
"If they're particularly precious photos or they've sustained a lot of damage, the next process is to scan them, either through a professional, or a lot of printers these days have scanning options, and then you can go that next step further and get in touch with a professional photo restoration expert, which is an expensive job. But you would be amazed how much they can restore of a photo which may feel like it was destined for the rubbish bin."
If clean water is hard to come by due to restrictions, or you're busy dealing with other aspects of the clean-up process, Bradley says flood-damaged photos can be frozen until you're in a position to deal with them.
"My neighbors next door, bless them, have let me completely take over their deep freeze which is now filled with photos which are bagged up in bin liners and I'll come to back to them."
