lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

Before commenting on the future of my photos, I must explain that I am a retired "trust and estate" attorney who is used to planning for the future of my clients.

Hobbyists, have you ever thought about the long-term future of our brilliant digital photos, the thousands of flowers, sunsets, wildlife, sports and family photos that each of us accumulate during a lifetime of pursuing our hobby? I personally print well less than 10% of my photos, and the others reside on computer hard drives, external hard drives, in the "cloud" and perhaps in other places. Only I know where my digital photos are stored and how to access them (at least I think I can access all of them).

Probably like you, I continue to edit and store digital photos. I love taking photos, and I equally love the editing process. I always prepare and print photo books of family vacations and holidays, which I enjoy sharing with my family. Unless I print a landscape, wildlife or micro photo, no one sees all of my brilliant compositions. I only infrequently share my photos with others. I sometimes scan through my photos, remembering with joy some of my adventures and captures. Otherwise the photos just sit neglected at some sort of electronic address and take up gigabytes of space.

What is my wife going to do with my treasure-trove upon my death? She already has all of the photo books I have made over the years. She is not very comfortable working with computers, so she will not be challenged to find the location of my photos. Although she politely compliments the landscapes, etc., which I print, she is really not interested in all of my attempts at artistic composition. She's just happy that I have a hobby I enjoy. I strongly suspect that the joy of my hobby will simply disappear in cyberspace, as hard drives are disposed of and unused cloud subscriptions expire.

Not a tragedy. I have enjoyed my hobby for years, so it has served its purpose. Not being Ansel Adams, and not being immortal, it's probably fine that the work product of my hobby simply fades away.

Something to think about.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Interesting topic and a well written introduction.

I expect nobody will even look in my computer when I croak. They may not even figure out the password, let alone which drives to look on.

However, I print photos I like. Canon says that if stored in a box, the ink will probably be OK for about 100 years. One of my survivors will find the box and will remember that I enjoyed photography.

I do have a fire proof box with the important stuff in it. Once a year we remind our son where it is!!!! If you have something like that, consider putting your "Best Two Dozen" on a thumbdrive with an appropriate label.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

There has for many years been talk of creating a National photographic archive. There are several photographic museums. In the Uk we have County Council Records offices that do just that....keep records of their local areas. Obviously not all photo's would be wanted - but worth exploring if you want to leave your images for prosperity.

Equal to this thread would be contacting your local history society and asking what they would like documenting NOW ! it may give you a purpose in revisiting your images.

Have fun
Have fun

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

I too am retired and I have thought of that also. I take pictures because I enjoy it, but I have no illusions or delusions that when I go anyone will be interested in my photography. So my photos will just fade away like me.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

I also thought of what will happen to my photos. I bought an ecotank printer, it now costs me almost nothing to print a photo.
Epson says the ink will last 99 years.... I print my photos and put them in a book. I have a few hundred printed .... I hope someone will appreciate them when Im gone. I imagine mykids will just throw them out, so at sometime I may try and donate them to a library etc.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

My photos and those of our family, some going back a hundred years, are stored on MDisks in my safe, my two sons have copies, and it is archived in the cloud in Amazon S3. My sons and my wife have login credentials which are also mentioned in an up-to-date document telling my survivors the details of my assets, life insurance, passwords, SS info. Etc. also included are movies describing how to dispose of items like my ham radio equipment. After two heart attacks and having probated 5 relative's wills, I know how important it is to leave behind an accurate record of assets. As an example, a year after my aunt's will was done and everything desitributed, by pure chance, we received a report from a mutual fund no one knew she had invested in. There was 38K$ in the fund, and if the letter had been returned, the money would have ultimately ended up in the state's escheat fund. The moral to the story is to leave a detailed listing of assets and directions for your surviving relatives, children and/or spouse.

Nature_Shooter Loc: Chesterfield Missouri

My children already have copies of the pictures I took when they were young and every few months I give them a thumb drive with recent family pictures. Unless any of my other photos become famous (doubtful), I doubt they will ever worry about them. They are backed up on two external hard drives in different locations and they both know where they are but I am not going to kid myself thinking they will fight over them.

Photocraig

To the point, but off the point because of teh times. When my last parent passed away, being the eldest son, and the one who was settled, I carried all of teh old photo prints and slides I could find home in a large suitcase---in 1978. My dad's slides are still in a couple of boxes aas well as some of mine. The remaining prints, almost all B&W witht he pinking shear edges are STILL in that suitcase and we're in out5th hous since then.

The reason is that nobody knows WHO moast of those people are.

I know about the slides since my dad and I would shoot together. BUT, except for the few with names on the back the rest are complete mysteries. And, those with names are mostly mysteries, because while the subjects ahve names, and I can identify about 60% of the locations, and by stretch of my imagination and memories from when I was 6, I don't know who most of them are. And the poignant thing for me on the plane ride bck to California was, "WOW, I'm the oldest now, and if I don't know, nobody does.

My point here is this is a situation many of us and our childrena nd grandchildren will face. We should all take a few moments when we're not begging out behind the screen (any of them) and catalog the family photos and help future generations put the names to the faces of their distant relatives. A 21 year old Uncle Max, for me, wasn't identifiable easily to the 80-something Uncle Max I knew as a kid. It is a big world out there. Those sunsets, and monuments all have a location, a name and an approximate date for the visit. While Ansel Adams they're NOT, they are a part of your heritage, and these photographs are a part of the ongoing questions future generations have about who went before them, who am I? and Where did I come from?

As far as bequeathing, I think that's a good idea for those few of us whose photographs have a monetary value. As far as appointing a guardian for their preservation, I think that 's a good idea. But we, the elders, have a responsibility to leave our photo legacy in a form and an organized, annotated state so they're worth preserving and using for out descendants. And the primary indicator of whether the photos are even worth viewing will be how organized and preserved physically and digitally they are.

lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

You are an estate planner's dream!!!

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

I don't have to be concerned about the issue, as all my photos will be archived by the Smithsonian. They are extremely valuable and are coveted by museums worldwide. The curators at the Smithsonian have assured me that my photos will be preserved and that there will be occasional showings. One more thing--I have this bridge---

lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

Thanks for your response, Ansel.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

A subject that I've pondered as I've aged. I've prepared a Word document, explaining my password schemes, the various online accounts I have and credentials for accessing them. I've shared that document with my son who is head of an IT department.

The document explains my logic in the organization of my images, as well as the role of Lightroom in that organization. He understands it all and will honor the leftovers.

Good subject.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Another thing to think about:

For those of us who use Lightroom to organize our photos, what will happen when we're out of the picture? Who in the family knows how to search for photos in Lightroom?

Since I don't have anyone else in the family who uses LR, my files all have meaningful file names which describe the subject of the image. Lightroom does not require that. You can have any sort of file name from the original camera name to an arbitrary hash. Lightroom will search happily through the metadata for meaningful clues to the subject of the photo. Same problem. Who in your family knows that metadata even exists, let alone how to search through it?

I recommend changing the file names to something descriptive when downloading your files.

I suspect that the only photos that anyone will look for are family photos. The photos of events, places visited, "art" (since they're my photos I have to use quotes to describe them as art), will fade away as the lilies of the field.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I have several friends who will sell my equipment on Ebay and give the money to my wife. My Son, a graphic designer, wants my hard drive that contains all of my Best of the Best shots. He also wants all of my flash drives that contain all of my digital images. My fathers slides are now safely on CD and my children all have a copy. Plus they receive a special book each year with our family pictures. That handled I am at piece.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Yes, I have thought about my treasures. A hard drive does not take up much space and the contents not much space in a super computer memory bank. Schools could have an art course were the student would be assigned your works and then condense down to a small presentation of the best. Amazing how fast the eye/mind can see images and hit stop and backup to the eye catching image.

Reality tells me that I should write the word "Rosebud" on my photos so that when burned in the furnace in the basement of Xanadu, the fictional estate of Charles Foster Kane, the word Rosebud will be there.