by David Iglésias Frank, CRDI – Centre for Image Research and Diffussion, Girona City Council

In the third week of November (from 20th to 23rd) it was held a new edition of the Image and Research Conference, organized by the Centre for Image Research and Diffusion (CRDI) of the Girona City Council with the collaboration of the Association of Archivists of Catalonia. In that edition, around 150 people attended representing twelve different countries. The Image and Research Conference held its twelfth year, and after 22 years, we have become the benchmark event in Spain for professionals involved in photography and audiovisual mainly in the field of archival, preservation, history and document management.

photo by Jordi S. Carrera

The Conference started on the 20th at the facilities of the Centre for Image Research and Diffusion with the completion of the workshop “Preparation of original photographs for digitization” by Angelica Soleiman, Master’s degree in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management, at Ryerson University and at George Eastman House (Toronto, Canada – Rochester, NY, USA). The workshop aimed to look at, among other things, the reasons that justify digitalization, and the most common specific problems encountered during photographic processes in archives and collections, while proposing valuation measures along with recommendations before and after the digitalization process. The workshop was repeated on 21^st November, 50 people attended.

On the 22^nd and 23^rd it took place the sessions for papers and presentations that make up the main event of the Conference in the Girona Conference Centre.

photo by Jordi S. Carrera

To highlight some of the speakers we quote Howard Besser, Director of New York University’s Moving Image Archiving & Preservation masters degree program with the paper “Preparing the Next Generation of Audiovisual Archivists: Lessons from New York University’s Moving Image Archiving & Preservation Program”.

Augusto Pieroni, who teaches Photography History and Criticism at the University of Rome Sapienza, dedicated his talk to the analysis and interpretation of the photographic work with the idea that interpretation is entailed by every use of photography. Pau Maynés, photograph conservator, made a series of reflections on the history of the restoration and conservation of photographs, from the seventies to the present. Last, Carles Mitjà, Professor at the Image Processing and Multimedia Technology Centre (CITM) at Polytechnics University (UPC) took us through the various stages in the digitalization of photographs with regard to infrastructures and procedures.

In the experiences session we quote the speakers that took part of the Conference. Richard Wright, the archive preservation specialist in the BBC Research and Development department in London, presented the European project for digital preservation with audiovisual Prestoprime as a director of this project. Nathalie Doury, general manager of Parisienne de Photographie, the company in charge of digitization and management of reproduction rights of the City of Paris’ photographic and iconographic collections, talked about the experience in managing this collection. She mainly focused on the commercial strategies. The commercial issue, but focused on audiovisual materials, was also the main subject in the paper of Sue Malden, Media Archive Consultant and chair of the Federation of Commercial Audio Visual Archives (FOCAL International). David Iglésias, from CRDI, presented a conceptual information map to design the photographic digital archive. And last, Didier Grange, archivist from Municipal Archive in Genève explained its strategies to preserve the video fonds of the city.

photo by Jordi S. Carrera

The program gives also special importance to the debate and participation. On the 22^nd it took place the round table titled ” What is the Archives position in front of legal uncertainty of mere photographs?” in which were involved Jordi Lluís Forgas (Judge), Josep Matas (Lawyer), Lluís Salom (representative of the photographers from UPIFC) Joan Boadas (Archivist at CRDI), and David Iglésias (Rapporteur of the on-line debate, at Facebook).

Concerning the Europeana Photography Project, some publicity was made. People could get the leaflet at the reception, we had 75 copies. In the opening session, Joan Boadas, Director of CRDI, mentioned the project and did a short explanation about its mission.

photo by Jordi S. Carrera

Also, Ms. Nathalie Doury, from Parisienne de Photographie, mentioned the project during the presentation of her paper. However, the main presentation of the project will take place in the Conference organized by the International Council on Archives (ICA) that will be host in Girona in October 2014. It will include three events: the 2^nd ICA annual Conference, the 9^th European Conference on Archives and the 13^th Image and Research Congress.

Once again, the two-days meeting in Girona was for all of us a good opportunity to be in contact with colleagues with different backgrounds, but with a shared interest: the photographic and audiovisual heritage.

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