Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

I have always saved all my pictures. I got my first camera when I was 6 years old, that would have been in 1949. I have negatives and prints and slides from then until I quit shooting film in 2020. When I started shooting digital with a 6 MP Kodak pocket camera I continued that practice. Somewhere, on some disk I have the first digital picture I ever shot. Storage was not inexpensive in the early days but I knew it would be important to me later.

My hope was that someday post processing was going to allow me to salvage all those "I almost got it" shots that record important memories that I don't want to loose.

So here we are in 2023, storage is getting cheaper by the day. Post processing software is doing things we didn't even dream about 5 years ago. I now have over 38,000 uncatalogued images most of which I will never look at some of them I will. I will salvage them using all the improvements in Lightroom, Photoshop, Topaz and many others. I will use AI technology with no apology.

Late at night, all alone with a glass of 24 year old Laphroaig Scotch, I will cycle through that magic folder titled "Memories" and relive those earlier days.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Not the ones I don't care for....

But that is up to my discretion.

Some are simply memories, not intended to win the Pulitzer Prize.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

I don't have anywhere that many but I do have a few from Africa from the late 40's early 50's, England 1957/60, Canada 1960/61, USA and Mexico 1960's and 70's. Africa and the Middle East from the late 70's and Central America in later years.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I keep about 60% of my RAW files. Many shots are duplicates from holding the shutter button for burst shots. I cull the ones that are almost identical. Severely out-of-focus or bad exposures are also culled.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Absolutely.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Very simple answer...Yes.
--Bob

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Thanks for commenting Bob

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

yes. Keep all my negatives and slides and save all the images on my camera cards to a hard drive, which is backed up regularly. I only import the images into LrC that I plan on processing from that hard drive.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Thanks for responding, that's how I do it too

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

The only pictures I don't keep are those I take at school which contain identifiable images of students. I particularly save images where I have tried something new and different and it didn't work, or didn't quite work. Those get reviewed carefully to diagnose what went wrong and how to correct it.

Understand, though, that I work very deliberately, and make nowhere near the number of exposures that it sounds like most others do. That leaves me with much less to save, and much less to keep up with. I also don't create 90% discards. In fact, many of those "discards" find eventual use as topics of discussion or examples. Also remember that a high percentage of my images are intended to be used as they come out of the camera.

I would not expect anyone to adopt my process, just as I am very unlikely to adopt anyone else's process.

User ID

When first I inherited an ancient iPhone I understood what youre *supposed* to do with iPhones. So, here is my actual very first phone pic. I will save this landmark icon forever and a day. Upsidedownness is a huge part of its historical significance

(Download)

btbg

I shoot sports for a local newspaper and shoot other stuff on my time off. Now that I am part time I am trying to catalog my images. I haven't even started on slides and print film yet, but have managed to catalog just over 5 million digital photos. I think I have a little over a million left to catalog. I kept all the sports photos I've taken that are in focus and have clear faces as you never know when one of them might make it to the pros, or something might happen that a photo of the individual will become important to someone. Have been a little more selective with other photos, but like you I have kept some reasoning that as software improves the photo may become better or more important.

Am saving money now to buy a couple of raids so that I can consolidate some of my portable hard drives. Will then leave the current hard drives in a shed on the acre we have and the duplicates on the raid, so if there is a disaster of some sort I have a better chance of not losing photos.

As long as they are cataloged so others can tell what the photos are when I'm gone why not. I also started shooting when I was six, but you are a little older, so good for you. Keep anything you want that provides memories.

Laramie Loc: Tempe

I have a Rubbermaid box full of stuck together 4x5s and slides stuck to sleeves. I haven't opened the box in at least 25 years, but I haven't tossed everything away, yet. Someday, I'll look through a few, determine the status, then probably put them all back in the closet!

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Amazing, some people just don't learn. Don't post pictures on someone else's thread unless asked to.