Timeless Photo (Page 2): I take mostly snapshots. I recently started throwing boxes of them in the garbage. Over the years I have given photos to family and friends, some of which are...

Bill_de Loc: US

Architect1776 wrote:

How many here make timeless photos and how many make snapshots that will die with them?
I mean die by no one will care nor cull through the thousands of snapshots but dispose of them as meaningless to anyone but the author.

I take mostly snapshots. I recently started throwing boxes of them in the garbage. Over the years I have given photos to family and friends, some of which are hanging in their homes. Recently, one of my nieces took a bunch home. She went through them, selected some to keep and asked me what she should do with the rest. I told her to toss them. I doubt anyone will go through the hard drives, but at least those can be formatted and reused.

I am not concerned with what happens once I'm dead.

----

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

I am amazed at the discussions about ink and paper that must be "archival." People do not realize that in the end of their life, their "Timeless Photos" will suffer the same end as the famous Rosebud sled of Charles Foster Kane; in the end, burn in the fire meaningless.

Kane and Rosebud are meaningless words to many in UHH... so for the few:
https://www.wellesnet.com/orson-welles-the-meaning-of-rosebud-in-citizen-kane/

PS: Orson Wells is not a oil or water well, nor a mineral spa.

anotherview Loc: California

The future may hold an automated process that will scour all available images in order to depict and define time and place. This process may apply filters to select the most pertinent images for returning a search. Posterity will decide image value. Etc.

Architect1776 wrote:

How many here make timeless photos and how many make snapshots that will die with them?
I mean die by no one will care nor cull through the thousands of snapshots but dispose of them as meaningless to anyone but the author.

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

User ID wrote:

Forever is a really long time ...
especially near the end.

Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer to the end it gets the faster it goes.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Curmudgeon wrote:

If I make a "Timeless" photo it will be a mistake. I shoot for me not for an audience

Mostly all pictures are "timeless", unless there are distinct item(s) in it that indicate a time or time period, and that may be deceiving. All photos are ageless, or unchanged by time. We just attach that moniker to images that will trigger great feelings "forever".

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

dpullum wrote:

I am amazed at the discussions about ink and paper that must be "archival." People do not realize that in the end of their life, their "Timeless Photos" will suffer the same end as the famous Rosebud sled of Charles Foster Kane; in the end, burn in the fire meaningless.

...

Yes, no one feels the same way about our photos as we do.
Especially "the photo must look perfect forever" part.
Will the next generation really want that image on their wall?
It would be nice wouldn't it. But I'm not holding my breath.

Wasabi

dpullum wrote:

I am amazed at the discussions about ink and paper... (show quote)

When we relocated from Northern Illinois to SW Florida Barbara brought her 'Rosebud' along. It stands against the wall in the garage. Am waiting for some native Floridian to ask " what is that?"

leftj Loc: Texas

Architect1776 wrote:

How many here make timeless photos and how many make snapshots that will die with them?
I mean die by no one will care nor cull through the thousands of snapshots but dispose of them as meaningless to anyone but the author.

I take mostly digital and sometimes film photos.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

leftj wrote:

I take mostly digital and sometimes film photos.

Are there any other kind?

bobbyjohn Loc: Dallas, TX

Architect1776 wrote:

How many here make timeless photos and how many make snapshots that will die with them?
I mean die by no one will care nor cull through the thousands of snapshots but dispose of them as meaningless to anyone but the author.

A subscription to Ancestry.com should do the trick. I have placed photos in Ancestry, both portrait and activity photos, for each person in my family (current and prior generations), and have documented each photo with time (year), place, and what/who is in the photo. I tried to place only the best of the best...so not the hundreds/thousands of photos I have for the family. I have placed perhaps only a couple of dozen for each person. I assume then that Ancestry.com will last a lot longer than any human living today. Even when the subscription lapses, such a site likes to keep all the people data and photos forever.

PS. I also colorized several of the original B&W photos prior to placing in Ancestry.

leftj Loc: Texas

Longshadow wrote:

Are there any other kind?

Well, there must be timeless photos hence his question.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

leftj wrote:

Well, there must be timeless photos hence his question.

Taken with a timeless camera?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Except for some pictures of the family, they will all die with me - but not for quite a while.

leftj Loc: Texas

jerryc41 wrote:

Except for some pictures of the family, they will all die with me - but not for quite a while.

Let us all know how you managed to be in control of your life span.

dbrugger25 Loc: Raleigh, NC

Coincidence.

I recently hauled-out all the old photo prints that we have (thousands). We are now organizing them in to groups and trashing the many that have no meaning to us. I plan on scanning many and saving the files to USB memory cards and will distribute them to our adult children and some friends who will have an interest in them.

Plustek makes a feed-thru photo scanner that is fast but it is necessary to gently wipe the surface of old photos so that partacles and dust don't accumulate on the scan window. occasional wiping of the scan window will also be necessary.

I suspect that most people would prefer to view old family and vacation photos on a computer screen these days and it will be possible to group the photos by subject and time.

It will also allow the combining of film photos, slide photos and digital photos to make it easy to find images.