Photography - The legacy left behind... YOUR legacy.
Jan 14, 2018 17:50:42 #
This is not a comfortable subject.
Many folks here are much older than I am (61). I see many threads on what to save or not to save and where.
I have another one more to the point as we all will die sooner than later...
What is the need of preserving anything if you can safely assume that very few will be interested in looking at it especially if there are gazillions of them*?
How many of us have seen cameras in estate sales with all type of stuff including memory cards, drives and the like?
I certainly have and quite frankly I know that 99.9999% of all images created will never be seen more than once.
------
* My grand father was a photographer and had archived tons (as weight) of images on glass documenting the life of his town from the 1890 to 1950. When he died the family who did not know about that went through everything trying to get the family pictures. They 'saved' about 250 glass plates. They were stored in an attic, in a trunk. When I learned of it I tried to get it and was unable to get to it. Now no one knows where the trunk is, my uncle moved and has died since. As to the rest of the collection? It was simply destroyed after no one expressed any interest on the collection. Destruction method? The dump, by truck load.
Many folks here are much older than I am (61). I see many threads on what to save or not to save and where.
I have another one more to the point as we all will die sooner than later...
What is the need of preserving anything if you can safely assume that very few will be interested in looking at it especially if there are gazillions of them*?
How many of us have seen cameras in estate sales with all type of stuff including memory cards, drives and the like?
I certainly have and quite frankly I know that 99.9999% of all images created will never be seen more than once.
------
* My grand father was a photographer and had archived tons (as weight) of images on glass documenting the life of his town from the 1890 to 1950. When he died the family who did not know about that went through everything trying to get the family pictures. They 'saved' about 250 glass plates. They were stored in an attic, in a trunk. When I learned of it I tried to get it and was unable to get to it. Now no one knows where the trunk is, my uncle moved and has died since. As to the rest of the collection? It was simply destroyed after no one expressed any interest on the collection. Destruction method? The dump, by truck load.
Jan 14, 2018 17:54:55 #
Jan 14, 2018 18:30:34 #
Jan 14, 2018 18:44:46 #
What a sad tale, I do hope you do find what's left of your Grandfather's collection.
Jan 14, 2018 18:49:41 #
Folks, my grand father incident is just an illustration.
The thread is about YOUR legacy.
The thread is about YOUR legacy.
Jan 14, 2018 18:57:45 #
Rongnongno wrote:
This is not a comfortable subject. br br Many fol... (show quote)
I have thought of that. I am 69 and have no descendants and no one close who is interested in photography. When I die probably no one will ever see anything I've done again. So I just shoot for me.
Jan 14, 2018 19:14:20 #
Photography is my hobby; I've been doing this for over fifty years now. I do it because I enjoy it; my daughters have expressed appreciation when I send pictures to them - what they do with any of my stuff, from my socks to my photographs, after I'm gone is purely up to them {but I try to keep up-to-date on documenting my photography, so they'll know what is what}
Jan 14, 2018 19:24:49 #
My kids will discard most of what I have done; with some small measure of guilt.
Jan 14, 2018 19:43:41 #
Mac wrote:
I have thought of that. I am 69 and have no descendants and no one close who is interested in photography. When I die probably no one will ever see anything I've done again. So I just shoot for me.
I also have a bunch of pictures from when I was in the Navy, the same thing will probably happen to them too.
Jan 14, 2018 20:03:00 #
I seem to have become custodian of my parents' albums; our younger daughter has shown interest in them - maybe she'll be interested in her more recent history {namely my images} also.
Jan 14, 2018 20:08:38 #
If you are not famous and your family is not interested in your photos. I am sorry they will be lost forever. Happy shooting.
Jan 14, 2018 20:51:02 #
78 here. My ancestors seemed to make it as far as about 85. I'm hoping that as a farmer, I can keep physically active and in that manner last a bit longer. I've already beat my father by a decade and I don't sit in a chair larding up as many of my ancestors did. Nevertheless, I will not last forever.
I'm not sure that only 10^-6 of my photographs will be of interest to anyone. I think the number may be as large as 10^-3 (although that's still a moderately small number). I have no heirs but I have photos from family gatherings and a few of the family have kept copies of them. My estimate may be overly optimistic, but I prefer optimism to pessimism.
Since some of the family have kept some of the photos, I'm not worried about this generation. My concern is for the generations beyond that. And I have at least one strategy to keep the photos available to them (at least potentially available).
All my images go into Lightroom so I have a catalog with keywords to search with. It's not perfect, but I can find images from years ago that I've even forgotten I took, just by looking for a subject. That's great for me, but there is not one of my family that knows how to use Lightroom, so the photopile could be an impenetrable mess to them. To avoid that, I simply change the name of the file so that it's something meaningful. And the photos are organized by subject in folders with meaningful file names. That way anyone familiar with a computer could do a standard search for a name. All that assumes that my files and folder structure survive.
Lightroom has the capability of changing file names on import. Before I knew that was possible (possibly before it even WAS possible) I started using a program called "Downloader Pro". Running my images through this program when downloading from the camera card, I only have to (1) give it a descriptive text string to be used in the file name and (2) select the images to be downloaded. DP makes that really easy. A more complete description can be found at
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=1595
I'm not sure that only 10^-6 of my photographs will be of interest to anyone. I think the number may be as large as 10^-3 (although that's still a moderately small number). I have no heirs but I have photos from family gatherings and a few of the family have kept copies of them. My estimate may be overly optimistic, but I prefer optimism to pessimism.
Since some of the family have kept some of the photos, I'm not worried about this generation. My concern is for the generations beyond that. And I have at least one strategy to keep the photos available to them (at least potentially available).
All my images go into Lightroom so I have a catalog with keywords to search with. It's not perfect, but I can find images from years ago that I've even forgotten I took, just by looking for a subject. That's great for me, but there is not one of my family that knows how to use Lightroom, so the photopile could be an impenetrable mess to them. To avoid that, I simply change the name of the file so that it's something meaningful. And the photos are organized by subject in folders with meaningful file names. That way anyone familiar with a computer could do a standard search for a name. All that assumes that my files and folder structure survive.
Lightroom has the capability of changing file names on import. Before I knew that was possible (possibly before it even WAS possible) I started using a program called "Downloader Pro". Running my images through this program when downloading from the camera card, I only have to (1) give it a descriptive text string to be used in the file name and (2) select the images to be downloaded. DP makes that really easy. A more complete description can be found at
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=1595
Jan 14, 2018 22:37:22 #
DirtFarmer wrote:
Post them in the gallery here. Once something is in the Internet, its hard to get rid of even if you want to.Since some of the family have kept some of the photos, I'm not worried about this generation. My concern is for the generations beyond that. And I have at least one strategy to keep the photos available to them (at least potentially available).
Jan 14, 2018 22:42:02 #
rehess wrote:
Post them in the gallery here. Once something is in the Internet, its hard to get rid of even if you want to.
UHH seems to forget posts over time. Also UHH does not have the clout 'big guys' have.
Jan 15, 2018 00:10:07 #
Rongnongno wrote:
Folks, my grand father incident is just an illustration.
The thread is about YOUR legacy.
The thread is about YOUR legacy.
My hope is that my legacy is to be remembered like Abraham "And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness." Gen 15:6
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.