Old paper backed photographs (vs. plastic coated new photo prints) may be yellow and brittle. Because of these deterioration problems, handling your old vintage photos on paper while wet compounds your problems and could result in you causing more damage when handling them than occurred as a result of the disaster which you recently experienced.

No matter what kind of photographs you have, if they get wet, they are your No. 1 priority. Red alert! You must act now, while they are wet, if you want to increase your chances of salvaging your photos. This should be done within 72 hours. Don’t let them dry out (if they are in a pile).

If you have a large quantity of wet modern photographs or if you have motion picture film on rolls, then you may not have any choice but to go to a photo lab for help. If your photographs are very old or antique, it would be best to consult a conservator who is specialized in photographic preservation and understands the dangers and can deal with the problems of deterioration of old photographs in addition to the damage.

Remember, once dried, the photographs, especially color photographs, which are securely stuck together may have a very low percentage chance of separation without damage. Keep them wet till they can be worked on.

The worst situation in which you may find your photography is if they are stuck together in a pile. Photographs and negatives have a surface coating (an emulsion) which, upon getting wet and then drying, may have adhered itself to the print next to it. DO NOT TRY TO PULL THEM APART! You need to be very careful when handling wet and damaged photos as they will be especially fragile.

If your photos are ripped, stained, dirty, bent or wavy there’s no hurry. They won’t get worse if you take care of them. Your only priority in an emergency situation is to keep things from getting worse and to preserve that which could be further damaged.

If you find a pile of color or black and white photographs or negatives stuck together, the first thing that should be done is to put them into a large basin of clean cool water. DO NOT TRY TO PULL THEM APART! It is possible that the photos emulsion will swell in the water and release the photo attached to it. You may have to leave it in the water for 24 hours. Make sure the water stays clean.

If your photographs are stuck together because they have gotten wet, and if they are still wet or damp, it is best to get them into clean cool water as soon as possible. Do not let the wet/ stuck together photographs dry out, if at all possible.

If you have a large amount of wet photography that you cannot deal with immediately (within 72 hours):

1. Remove them from the basin of water.
2. Rinse off dirt, mud, scum under gentle running water.
3. Do not try and separate any photos stuck together.
4. Separate with wax paper all individual photos or groups of photos
5. Put them into zip lock freezer bags
6. Put them in the freezer (yes even your one at home will do if you have room, but don’t stack the steaks on top!) and freeze them within 72 hours. Call a local meat processor, ice cream company or other commercial freezer for help with a lot of items.

By either freezing or getting your photographs into a basin of cool or room temperature water immediately, you will avoid the prolonged humid conditions that are conducive to mold and mildew.

Unfreezing Your Photographs

If you have frozen your photographs, the best way save them is:

Mold is one of the more severe problems you will have to deal with after your photos have gotten wet and stayed damp. That is why it is so important to take action as soon as possible after the unfortunate disaster. Once your photos get it, it will be hard to get rid of. Let me summarize what I have already written with a list of what you can do to minimize mold problems:

If your photographs have already been afflicted by mold or mildew:

The more severe the problem the more you will need professional help. The older the photo, the more urgent you will need a specialized professional.

Photographs covered in mud also need to be cleaned off (see next paragraph) and dried within 72 hours, otherwise interleaf the photos with wax paper and freeze them. Drying can be done by circulating cool air (with a fan) through the room. If you turn on a heater (in an attempt to dry things out more quickly) you will only cause the humidity to rise and mold will grow more vigorously. Expect some mold growth anyway.

If you have a fresh (it just happened and is still wet) mud problem, rinse off the photos using a gentle flow of cool water or by gently swishing it around in a basin (kind of like panning for gold). DO NOT RUB ON THE PHOTO. If you can, get the mud off while it is wet. There is more likelihood of staining if the mud dries.

For dried mud, put the photo(s) in a basin of clean water. After letting it sit for an hour, gently rinse clean. DO NOT RUB ON THE PHOTO.

CAUTION: Old, hand tinted, colored photos are often colored with paints that dissolve in water. If you rinse them, you will wash off the color. Getting some advise from a professional photo conservator won’t cost you anything. Do it.

There are two alternatives to handling a wet or muddy stack of photos yourself.

If it is not possible for you to take your photography to an expert, see the next paragraph for drying instructions. After drying, protect them with proper storage.

Do not under any circumstances use:

If you are going to attempt to separate your modern photography by yourself, it is best to let the photographs separate themselves over a twenty-four hour period in the basin of water. You can let them sit longer (in fact you may have to) but be sure you change the water every 24 hours. When handling the wet photographs, do not rub, mush, or caress the surface as this will damage the emulsion and the image. If possible, use a pair of blunt tweezers and hold the photograph by the edges. Once the photographs have separated, it would be best to rinse or dip the photographs in a basin of clean, room temperature distilled water. Do not let photos sit in dirty water.

Photographs on plastic coated paper can be hung, on a string which is stretched across the room, with clothespins but don’t do this with old photos on paper. The old brittle deteriorated paper will fall apart. If you do not have a lot of photographs, they can also be dried face-up on a towel in the open air but be careful where you set them out. Gusts of wind or a wandering dog could really make a mess.

1. Don’t blow the item off the counter-low blowing pressure

2. hold the hair dryer about 20" away

3. You can set the heat setting on hot, but...

4. ... do not get the photograph hot.

At this point, your photograph is detached and impurities may have been washed away. You have saved your photograph but after drying you may have ended up with a warped photo. This may be one of the drawbacks of doing the work yourself instead of having a professional help you. The photographs, once dried, can then be placed in individual protective sleeves. Besides using the photo sleeves or other enclosures and archival envelopes to protect the photos mentioned in the preceding section, you could also use sandwich bags from your supermarket (they are pretty flimsy though) and then put them in a protective box (see references for catalogs at end of book for archival boxes or use a Tupperware or Rubbermaid type box). Make sure your photographs are completely dry before placing them in any holders.

If you have photographs that have been ripped, scratched or otherwise damaged, don’t despair. You may find that for your most important photographs, professional retouchers will be able to do a very satisfactory job helping you restore the image (they will touch up a reproduction of your photograph). For the restoration and conservation of original photography please consult a professional photographic conservator.

Photo Albums: If your photographs are in a photographic album and the album has been destroyed by water, try to remove the photographs from the album and discard the album. This may be easier said than done... there are a lot of things that can make the salvage process difficult: inks that run, glue that won’t release, paper colors that run. You will need a lot of patience and the advise of a professional photo conservator wouldn’t hurt. If pages are stuck to the photographs, place the pages of the photo album and the photographs together into the basin of water as explained earlier in the chapter. As soon as you can remove the photos, pull the pages out of the wash water and then change the water. Do not let photos sit in dirty water.

If there is writing in the photo album that needs to be recorded, preserved, or remembered, take every handling precaution possible to not have the paper pages fall apart when wet:

Once the photographs are removed, the pages can be air dried and then photocopied to preserve the information for transcribing at a later date into a new photo album.