Well known industry figure Peter Rattray (formerly head of Kodak's Pro Division) will be staging an exhibition of his images shot during the year 1984 whilst he lived in Japan.

The exhibition will be held in the Kodak Gallery Ginza Tokyo from September 2nd to the 8th.

One of the most interesting aspects of this exhibition is the use of social media sites to attempt to locate any of the people depicted in the images. If any of the people can be located they will be invited to attend the opening evening.

We wish Peter all the best with his exhibition.

Peter's images can be viewed here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersrattray/sets/72157625872843256/

 We all know the importance of printing images as a method of protecting images but it has always been hard to quantify this to customers. This new Infotrends research gives us some data to use in our marketing to help educate our customers.

According to InfoTrends' latest Western European end-user research, over 40 percent of consumers have lost some or all of their photos. Many respondents indicated that their most favored photo recovery solutions are back-ups stored on an external hard drive or on CD/DVDs. While these are not bad options, there is one part of the preservation equation that is often being overlooked: photo prints. Less than a quarter of consumers reported using printing as a storage solution.

Mona Belle, a consultant at InfoTrends, states, "Consumers do not realize the value of backing-up images until they lose their favorite photos. Vendors and retailers need to remind and encourage consumers to use a combination of back-up methods: storage on an external hard drive, safe online storage, and photo prints. This is the best way to ensure that photos will be available for years to come."

Although they are popular storage methods, CD/DVDs and hard drives can deteriorate or crash over time, whilst high quality prints stored in photo albums are more likely to outlast these storage methods. Photo albums are also readily available to view and are more momentous. It is essential for vendors and retailers to offer a range of products that appeal to all consumers to encourage them to print their favorite photos in many different ways, playing up the benefits prints offer in terms of storage and viewing. A cherished photo should be printed for storage, as a gift, and for displays around the house