Just imagine your favorite photograph being baked in an oven at over 900 degrees Fahrenheit. And imagine you were the one responsible for placing it there! Well, believe it or not, millions of photos actually go through this process but it has nothing to do with destroying the image, and everything to do with preserving it.  

Photography is an integral part of our modern lives. Besides capturing personal moments in life, they’ve been used for just about everything from sales to inspiration to provocation to information. And though hard to imagine, it hasn’t always been this way.

Through most of human history, there have been no photos. No way to encase memories in life besides the drawings and the paint brush. It wasn’t until  the 1800’s, the century largely known for inventing tools that made machines, that real life images began to be captured.  

The word ‘photography’ was given to us by scientist John Hershel in 1839. The term is taken from the Greek language combining  two words—photos with means ‘light’ and graphien which means ‘to draw’. Not surprisingly, the photographic process began far from what we know today but slowly improved  through the century bringing us the first hand held camera in 1889. The first color photo wasn’t seen until nearly 60 years later.

Fast forward to the present day and we’re feverishly snapping photographs of almost anything we can and not just of family, friends and earthly places, but of objects in space so far beyond our own world it’s difficult to fathom. So with the popularity of photography at an all time high, why are we now choosing to bake them?

The main reason involves a new desire to place photos outdoors on patios, in garages, on fences, walls and just about any other place that Mother Nature offers. And that’s why they’re baked. Using the latest digital technology, photographs are converted into high resolution images that are embedded into the surface of porcelain or ceramic before being  permanently "fired up" to 1700 degrees. The finished product maintains the same beauty and color as the original and will withstand almost all harmful elements including sunlight, acid rain, thermal expansion, frost, snow and all weather and temperature cycles.

Since the process makes the image virtually indestructible, ceramic and porcelain photos have also found a place as memorials for loved ones lost. These permanent images are being  affixed to cremation urns, monuments, markers, headstones, or any special place where an outdoor eternal memorial is befitting.

The founders of photography would not have smiled upon the notion of baking their invention, but they certainly would not debate the results. The never ending gift of human ingenuity is alive and well, and has now created the eternal preservation of our favorite and most enduring images.