Dannj

I’m leaving a note that says I left my will among the thousands of photos I’ve backed up on another drive.

muggins88 Loc: Inverness, Florida

I saw one mother's trashed by two sons who did not want their mothers pictures that depicted the families life and travels. It meant nothing to me so I watched as it was trashed. These had names, dates, places, etc. I doubt that mine will even be looked at so I will leave them with the job of disposing of them and maybe some guilt. I think that the same will happen to items that are saved for you children. Again, I saw things go into the dumpster that I could not believe was being put there.

Canisdirus

My sister has kids...we don't...so I let her have everything she wanted years ago.
The rest is...unimportant to me.
Once I die, I will not know if I am being remembered...or not.
So...not very important to me...at all.

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

I print a yearly book and send a copy to each of our children.My 10th year this year. Contains family images along with my favorite images of the year.

Red6

It is my experience that many of our children or grandchildren will not want or desire many of the photos we have in our collections. Limit it to DIRECT family photos such as parents, siblings, and grandparents. Much beyond that and they will have little relevance. While that photo of the bird or sunset many mean a lot to you, its value to someone else will be almost nil. Pass on only the ones that have some importance and leave all the photos you took for yourself out of the collection.

I am experiencing this first hand now. Several years ago my mother, who is now 92, gave my sister and me several boxes of old photos taken during their younger years. It included photos of the family through the years. The box was huge and had dozens or maybe several hundred photos over the past 60 years.

Sorting through these, I have found that probably less than 20% of these photos have any relevance to me or my sister. Many are unidentifiable places that mom and dad visited or vacationed or people that we never knew. A photo of bear in the woods or waterfall has little meaning to someone who has no connection to the location. I am thinking that once I get these sorted, I will have less than 50-75 photos that I have a real connection with. The rest are simply trash to me.

I have talked with others that have experienced this. One family that I know was caught up in the videotaping (VHS) of his family when his kids were young. They have dozens of VHS tapes of their kids growing up including school activities, birthdays, etc. I asked them if they ever watch them and he said they may have watched a few right after they taped them but almost never watched them again. Now that VHS machines are obsolete, it is possible they will never watch them again. This seems to be a common experience for those that video taped their vacations and special events. Most were watched once or twice and stored.

So, save your efforts and limit the photos that you pass on to the ones that have real meaning and connections. Your children will have little interest in the hundreds or thousands of photos of birds, squirrels, or sunsets in your catalogs or whatever storage medium you now have them in.

muggins88 Loc: Inverness, Florida

Celtis87

Converting everything useful to digital, so when my children throw them out, it will be much easier for them. Sad, but true.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

I have made half a dozen photo books using Shutterfly. Copies of ones that chronical family vacations have been given to my wife and kids. Others with best photos, such as one of photos from my trip to South Africa, will be left with my wife. Otherwise, my photos are largely irrelevant to my family. These days, if anyone wants to see a nice photo of a particular bird, it is two mouse clicks away... The fact that your father took some nice photos of puffins in the distant past is not a big deal to the next generation, all of whom carry cameras with them everywhere they go.

Red6

This has been close to what I have seen. Many today do not want to be burdened with items that our parents and grandparents treasured. In their eyes, if it cannot be seen or experienced on social media or their phone, it is either trash or not relevant.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

So true.
I have the old photos back into the 1800's only because I rescued them from the trash of their children. As a grandchild I was far enough removed as to find interest and now the great and great great grandchildren are the ones with the most interest and demanding the preservation and copies.

Tracy B. Loc: Indiana

I keep a "Junk Journal." I put all family pictures and events in it with a few words. It is like a scrapbook / diary.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

I seriously doubt that my children will take the time to cull the thousands of images that will be left on my external hard drives.
It is what it is.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Photography is my thing, not my family’s, so I suppose it really doesn’t matter to me--I won’t know anyway. I am not so presumptuous to think that my meager works will matter to much of anyone else.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

If they find them and can access them, they can have them. Before digital it was all film strips, slides, prints, and albums. Now it’s bytes. There will always be something that can open that digital record.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

We should all realize this.
I sure do.