Sustainability, Environmental Responsibility, and Digital Photography

A simple Google search for "photograph archive" leads to several collections of old photographs occupying physical space in universities, public libraries, and private catalogs. The company Corbis purchased a few of these (notably the Bettman and Sygma archives) and, like many others, has begun taking these collections digital. The process of converting these photographs to one's and zero's not only will ensure their preservation for lifetimes, but also greatly reduces the physical space they occupy. Imagine six thousand photo albums stacked in a cave somewhere, versus one external hard drive. Digital photography has taken the Bauhaus concept of economy of space and given it a 21st century boost. In addition to lowering the physical space-footprint of photography, the transition to digital has contributed variety of sustainability issues, like lowering industrial pollution. The less companies like Kodak use harmful chemicals in photograph production, the healthier local rivers, like the Genessee in Rochester, NY, can become. As the process of going digital continues for photography and the world at large, there will surely be further sustainability issues that bits and bytes can tackle.