DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

I got an email today from Popular Photography with a link to an article. The email described the article as "What to do with your digital photos." Turns out it was actually a pretty lightweight article on ways to print. That description, though, is thought-provoking. What is eventually going to become of your photos?

Let's say you have 100,000 photos taken over a lifetime, carefully edited, stored in Lightroom or Aftershot Pro or On1, or some other photo manager/database. Suppose you've carefully keyworded, star-rated, added titles, etc. Your collection is a mix of family photos and your hobby photos. So, you have a huge number of photos carefully curated in a database that nobody else in the family understands. What's going to happen to them when you croak?

I would love to hear from anyone who has given this topic some thought. Some will probably say, why should I care - I'll be dead! But, I would think that most families would want to be able to see family photos in the future, and maybe you'd like the best photos you've taken to be available to your family. Not to be toooo dark about it, but tick . . . .tick . . . . tick.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I believe one would be past caring at that point.
--Bob

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

Enjoy your photos now while you can. After you're gone they will be maybe glanced at, and deleted. Of course, post them here and they may last forever.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Nothing will happen to mine. Whoever sees my old external hard drives will probably just toss them in the trash or if they are new enough, format and reuse them. It all kind of depends on how much longer I live too. Because you never know who else will be alive by the time I die. So if all my siblings are dead or really old, I don't know what will happen. I have no children of my own but have a few step children. They don't care now so why would they care then?

Wuligal Loc: Slippery Rock, Pa.

I'm eighty years old and not in the best of health. My photos are categorized, dated, sorted and labeled. I included a note that reads...."My revenge for all those years of not cleaning your rooms." I'm sure the photos will disappear along with my clothes and old shoes but at least the kids will get a chuckle or two and I had all the fun creating them. Such is life.

chevman Loc: Matthews, North Carolina

I do photos for my own pleasure. I do share some but, for the most part it appears nobody really cares. So why would they care when I’m gone?
______________________________
Jerry in NC

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Several countries have a 'museum' of photography or similar named establishment. You could donate images especially if they already have keywords that match their system. (If not thats a suggestion to 'explore'). Who knows what people will like when we are 'historical'.
Locally(UK) we have 'Records Offices' in every Local Government area. May also be a possiblity to donate digital images there. I haven't asked, but have used their records in the past so may go and see what they think of the idea.

Downside of giving all your images to your children is that the sheer number can daunt them. Perhaps making a regular album of family images for each of them would be a practical way of passing on your legacy.(easier for them to pass on also) Families keep 'Family Bibles' in order to keep track of relatives....So why not a photographic record of all your extended family with what 'history' YOU remember about them.

Generally, I find that when clearing a house, So much stuff gets thrown away 'in a hurry' to Be lamented later....better for OUR generation to give 'stuff' to our children whilst we can do so in person.

Have fun

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Just last week I lost a dear forum friend. He battled cancer for a year so he was not caught off guard by this dilemma. He did organize his photos, as do I, by date and keyword. But in that last year he also made photobooks on themes that were important for him, to give to family and friends, and gifted prints as well. I will always cherish the beautiful print he made for me, and the little book he sent at Christmas of what he considered his best images of the place he most loved. These gifts left me a permanent reminder of his presence and influence. Something to consider, whether for loved ones close by or close friends who are far away.

(Rest In Peace & Light Matt Quinn)

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Family photos, and photographs shot for other people, have been placed on-line and downloading has been enabled.
There are a few vacation pics on the walls of our home that will still be around when I pass.
All the personal stuff will probably dissapear when I go and it can happen without a lot of warning (this is from a personal life changing experience last march).
A much bigger problem is what happens to people you are caring for.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Mine end up as prints, unless I'm not happy with the shot, then they are just trash! I print about 2-300 prints a year.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

That's a very valid approach. In the past, we inherited albums, or at least shoe boxes of photos. Now, the photos aren't very approachable for people who don't know, for example, Lightroom.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

If my wife and kids don't want them they will evaporate with the next computer.....

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Can you hear the flushing sound?

Photographs for posterity rarely survive one generation.

Bill_de Loc: US

Agreed.

Any pictures that I felt family or friends might want they already have. In the future I will still send anything they may really want.

Unless someone was doing 25 to life, who would want to bother going through 100,000 pictures?

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