gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

It would take 24 hours to view 17,280 photos at 5 seconds each. I think about it in those terms when I read about storing photos for future generations, what to do with all those photos we have. And that's assuming that they are all worth keeping. At some point, all those photos seem to become just so much background white noise in the photo data universe. My mom's albums had a few hundred photos that I scanned. Beyond that, does anyone have any thoughts on what you want done with your photos for future generations? Or not?

Rhode Island Red Loc: Houston, TX

It's an interesting point you make!

One thing I've noticed is that some photos of places that were likely just "meh" at the time they were taken have much more impact many years later when they reveal a view into the past. I'd like to think some of our photos will do that for others, but will they simply be lost in a sea of data?

This might be inspiration to pick your best shots and add metadata to everything.

You've got me thinking!

Chris

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Maybe it's time to start culling your images more aggressively. Surely not all of the 17,280 images are masterpieces.
Of course images which have personal meaning, such as photos that include friends and family members, you will want to keep. But, for example, if you have 20 images of the same squirrel on a branch, save the very best one or two from the batch, and delete the rest... if you don't want to bore future generations with repetitiveness as they attempt to browse through your photographic work.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Personally, I'd love to have mine printed, matted, mounted, and framed. Then I'd like them displayed in Musée du Louvre. But then, that's just me.
--Bob

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

My total number of images is probably roughly one-third of 17,280 {I'm already culling out the near-duplicates}, so my daughters could flip through them on a Saturday, and peruse them at leisure. I trust them to make a wise choice of what to do with my lifetime of memories. Meanwhile, I'm having fun accumulating them.

photomom Loc: Southern CA

Something i have been battling for a while now. Im afraid I'm going to die and my back-ups will be tossed in a dumpster. Id like to open ALL my files (as crazy as it seems)and make a big. thick coffee table book - it'd be huge for sure - at least they'd all be there --- anyone wanna help??? :)

Pixie Jackie Loc: New Hampshire seacoast

Hi -- I had to laugh when Arizona Bob said he'd like to see his images in the Louvre. It made me think of the many times that I've been in the modern/contemporary art sections of museums and wonder how on earth some particular things were chosen to be displayed. Most of the time, it's because the "creator" of the work is well known, but when you get right down to it, a lot of it leaves you scratching your head. Blobs of paint shmeared on a canvas, or a simple dot of paint in a corner near the edge of the frame or--even worse--a piece of "artwork" where a huge canvas was put on the floor, had paint dumped on it and the "artiste" makes it his own by stepping all over the canvas--this is "art" worth some wall space? I think that Bob probably has more interesting things to show viewers than many of the framed things that museums superciliously foist upon us. -- Jackie

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

By the time I die, I'm hoping to have a few hundred photos worth keeping to pass on.
I'll erase the rest myself long before that.
If the shoot is for me, I erase 90% of them now shortly after the shoot.
If it's foe a client, I erase everything I did not send them. They have no idea what else there is anyway!!!
People that keep everything are just hoarders and will put undue stress on whomever has to put all that junk in the trash later!
SS

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Pick a wall in your house and name it Louvre!!!
Go to the Louvre, find a window and take a picture through it and hang that on the wall with your pics all around it, so it will seen like your there!!!
SS

BB4A

How about donating some of your best work each year, to charitable organizations? They can then raffle it off or silent auction it at their events. If the artist asks for a letter detailing the value each donation received, that may also be acceptable in some countries as a tax-deductible donation (best to check first with your federal government tax authority).

Joe Blow

If anyone wants their photos to be treasured and valuable in the future, then add a description or short blurb to accompany them. If you print your photos, add a note in the frame with the details.

That guy standing beside a car might mean more if people know it was Grampa Harry beside his brand new Toyota Prius in 2005. Because at 25, Harry didn't look much like he did at 85. Add a note telling who, what kind of car, when, and where.

Knowing that this was a shot of Main Street in 2015 will help someone identify that location in 2115.

Without some idea of what the photo is about, it won't mean much to your grandchildren.

Dan Downie Loc: Rochester, NY

It seems that the time tested way to pass down photos is to simply pass down photos, because people look at photos/albums. I doubt anyone would want to waste their time going through thousands of meaningless digital pictures to discover a handful that are of any real interest or to be treasured. So, most likely they will be lost amongst the junk. You'd be negligent not maintain your digital photos/files to pass along since we have the technology, but be honest and realistic about them and those you want to leave them to.

Similar to Sharpshooter, I dump 90% (at least) immediately, in camera. I'm not about to download a ton of crap that I took while playing around /experimenting. And, I have to be honest, I'm trigger happy, so I take a ton of unnecessary picures just to hear my camera go off! I shoot for fun and will shoot most anything just for the sake of shooting... seagulls, for instance. Do I want pictures of seagulls in my collection? Not really, unless there's something special about it, like it's flying straight at my lens (but only if the picture is tack sharp and looks cool). However, I take a lot of pictures of them for the experience of tracking birds in flight so I'm better at it when a more interesting bird, like a pigeon comes along.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

I most likely have 100,000 + photos. When I take a photo it starts out as RAW, then I proceed to make a jpeg, a small file for posting, sometimes two or three versions cropped differently or white balanced differently, and maybe a B&W. I know I'm a hoarder when it comes to photos but its only so many pixels. Unless you are an Ansel Adams or a Peter Lik all your photos 50 years from now will be just so much garbage except for family photos. A good friend of mine died a few months ago. Raj was an excellent, award winning photographer that traveled the world for his hobby. He was financially well off enough to spend a lot of money doing his craft. I helped his widow get rid of most of his photos. The family kept maybe 20 of his best 16 x 20 shots and photo albums of the family. I emptied several hundred mounted 16 x 20 photos and enough negatives to fill a large trunk at a trash collection station. My kids have already told me that when my wife and I pass, they plan to rent a dumpster and toss just about everything. Oh, well, why not enjoy all you can for as long as you can. Life is short and I don't plan to stress over anything especially if I have too many photos.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Among those 17,000 photos, surely there are photos that you consider to be your best. Make sure those are seen.

JPL

I am in photography to please myself, not others. When I am dead there will be some hard disks full of photos. My kids can do what they want with them, throw them away or keep them, delete the pics or look at them or print them. I am not going to control that.