FROM milestone occasions to passport photos, Thornton Richards Camera House has captured special moments since 1872.<\/p>\n
Between 1967 and the turn of the 21st century, owner Sue Lewis said the photographic studio processed 24,000 orders, and kept all the negatives.<\/p>\n
Now the Lewis family have decided to release all the past studio negatives to the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople can come and get their negatives, and get their photos printed, or if they have got fading photos on their wall that were taken in the studio, they can get them replaced,\u201d Mrs Lewis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe often look at the negatives and think, why weren\u2019t they given back to the people at the time? But back in the early days, photographers were very precious about the photocopy rights of the images on the film.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the late 60s, stabilisers weren\u2019t strong enough for the Australian conditions because it was very early colour photography, but all the kept negatives from this time are still fine, although the rubber bands and sticky tape have disintegrated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs Lewis said their archives are full of Ballarat history, from industry group shots to family portraits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all have stacks of photos now because of our smart phones, but when these photos were taken, lots of people didn\u2019t have their own cameras.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got deb photos, studio portraits, lots of weddings, and school groups. We will return any negatives to institutions that we know of,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are passport photos which might appeal to families who don\u2019t have a lot of photos of someone who has passed.\u201d<\/p>\n