We take thousands of images of a myriad of subjects, but what will happen to those images after the photographer passes on? I'm sixty-four now and have been thinking about my image archive and what value it may have for my children, other relatives, friends, classmates, and researchers. Not all images have historical value, but some may have. If you look back at other photographers' work, then you can get a sense of what interest your work may have. A city skyline of Battery Park, NYC before 911 does not look the same as it does now. The Mall in DC has changed a lot over the last thirty years. The wedding photo taken in the 1940s contrasted to one taken in the 1970s is certainly different.

Do you have any plans for your images? I have been thinking of the local historical society and the nearby university. I haven't contacted them yet. I would like to know what they would consider wanting, in what form, and to whom they would grant access. Not many institutions have archival facilities to house great amounts of negatives, photos, or slides of a family's lifetime, but the documented "Who, what, when, where, and why" makes an image valuable.


I have two albums of photographs that my mother took when she was an Army nurse serving in the south Pacific with the Fourth General Hospital. She took photos of where she went, who she met, and some of what she did in Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. What the censor did not have her cut out can be pieced together with her diary and letters from that time period.


My collection of family cat photos would have little worth to the local historical society but my sister likes them. The photo of the city's train station before it was torn down may be interesting for the historical society. The images I took for the high school yearbook has value for my classmates. The facebook accounts for the units I served with in the Marines enjoy looking at the photos I took while I was in. The Calflora website likes the little bit of data that I supplied them with about plants in the local area. But the vast majority of my collection has not been digitized and may never be digitized because of time, expense, and much of it is not of specialized interest.


What are your plans for images after you pass on? Will they fade slowly in the night or burn in the fires of forgetfulness? Are they worth the effort of preserving? For my part, I will continue to catalogue, document, and digitize as much as I find worth the effort. In the future someone may find it interesting if they can access it.