Forgotten Images
When stone age man first discovered he could get a good meal in exchange for a flint axe head, trade became the foundation of society. Later, when he discovered he could get a better meal in the next valley, travel became an essential part of that trade. Eventually, weighed down with all those axe heads and somewhat out of condition due to all the good food, he invented transport. No fool our stone age man!
Today, transport, travel and trade are at the very heart of life as we know it. They are continually changing in response to new demands, fashions and trends. New technologies replace those we grew up with and we probably didn’t even notice it happening.
Fortunately………..
For tomorrow’s historians, somebody probably photographed the various aspects of the “3Ts”, the roads, shops, factories and the transport that served them.
Unfortunately………..
Every week of every year, somebody, somewhere, throws away those “unwanted” negatives or slides. Perhaps they think they are of no interest? “We have the prints, why do we need these old negatives” Perhaps they can’t find a new home for them? Somebody dies, a business folds, maybe someone simply looses interest. Either way the result is the same and those original images, all those snapshots in time, are lost forever.
So who are we – and why?
The purpose of our archive is to collect together as many of the surviving original images (negatives or slides) as possible, making prints available to anyone with an interest. Since stone age man wasn’t exactly renowned for his photographic skills, we can only cover the last bit from the end of the nineteenth century.
Since 1996 when a significant collection was lost on a Worthing rubbish tip, we have collected together well in excess of 750,000 original negatives and slides of which about half have been catalogued. These photographs have come from both professional and amateur photographers alike, all with one thing in common, that those donating them would like them to be kept together for the benefit of future generations.
We have probably “lost” ten times that number but any success, no matter how small, must be welcome.
To fund our work we sell photos to enthusiasts and occasionally we manage to get something published but it’s never enough to cover the expense of buying conservation materiels, running the web sites and acquiring the more interesting negatives that come to light.
We are strictly a not-for-profit organisation and in common with many others we are always in need of volunteers to help with our work. If you have some spare time and would like to help please get in touch but, for the time being, enjoy the site.
Are you looking for a good home for your collection?
Negatives and slides
We have a purpose built archive with temperature and humidity controls to meet the current standards for photographic archives.
We are supported by a team of experts who catalogue all new material via our invitation only web site www.na3t.net .
Once catalogued, everything appears on this web site with the photographer's name or the contributor, on each image.
Digital images
If you are a digital photographer you can submit your digital images via our upload website https://upload.na3t.org . These should be in the 6x4 format with at least 300ppi and a minimum size of 5MB - but the bigger the better. They should be 'as taken' without any effects applied in the camera or prior to sending. Please do not use a letterbox format.
By using the 'Upload' website you allow us to sell prints or digital versions of your photos to raise funds for the upkeep of the archive without limitation. Uploaded photos remain your copyright and unlike some other organisations we do not ask you to give up your moral rights to be recognised as the photographer. You may use our digital archive as a backup in the event of your loosing you own collection.