The main issue about 'digital photography' (Page 7): I don't know if it is disrespectful, but I do think that when you digitize your images, you have restricted them to yourself and...

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

ELNikkor wrote:

Even after digitizing my prints, slides, and negatives, I'm still reluctant to throw them away; it seems disrespectful somehow...

I don't know if it is disrespectful, but I do think that when you digitize your images, you have restricted them to yourself and very few others. Your prints, at least have a chance of being carried into the future.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

RWR wrote:

May I ask why it matters to you what others do with their pictures? I ask because, while I am very passionate about my own photography, I have zero interest in how anyone else enjoys their work. And only a useless busybody would care what I do with mine. I see nothing wrong with mutual respect.

Isn't this a photography forum, or did I miss something? If you only care about your photography, why are you on this site and even if you do only "have a zero interest in how anyone else enjoys their work" why would you label another member on this forum "a useless busybody" because they made the mistake of commenting on the topic being discussed.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

Rongnongno wrote:

The idea here is not to tell folks what to do but ... (show quote)

Decades ago I was walking to the theatre with my girl friend, later my life, a bird flew over and crapped on the shoulder of my red shirt leaving a big white splotch. I didn't like, I remember it, but I certainly didn't consider it art.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

lamiaceae wrote:

I have 6,000 CDs and LPs.

The guy that tells his story first doesn't have a chance. lol

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

StanMac wrote:

We know what we know about the past because of tangible remains. Will the trend to intangible “artifacts” of literature, music, etc. mask the nature of our society to future archeologists and researchers?

Discuss

Stan

Absolutely. Consider the work of Ken Burns in documenting various aspects of our American life especially his use of period photographs. Think about difficult would be for the "Ken Burns" of the future to document our time with the attitude we have about not making a record of our lives. On a different but related matter, think how many postcards, and letters both personal and business are no longer sent. How many E-mails have you kept? Probably about as many as I have, but I still have letters from my mother who has been gone for fifty years. This also holds true for more significant correspondence say between political figures or scholars.

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

As we age nostalgia becomes more and more important. I print because it seems to be the final step in the artistic journey. Photography is an art and when I take a picture through its journey to the final print I feel fulfilled as an artist.

Bret Perry

burkphoto wrote:

... The beauty of modern, pigment ink inkjet printing is that print longevity is up ...

Yes! That's what I was thinking, my cherished color prints from the 60s–80s kept in albums are all faded.
Sometimes I'll scan one and bring back the colors. Usually I print that. The B+W prints, even my parents' from the 50s are OK.

Who knows if anyone will transfer our digital pics and other stuff to whatever storage medium/file format is used in the next few centuries or even decades? Maybe if it's on the web it will be kept forever in the Wayback Machine archives archive.org. But the prints will do for the next century or two.

jeffkempton

My father once enlightened me to the fact that I may soon be the last person left alive to remember the great grandparents, aunts, and uncles. I have photographs and 8mm films of family members that have all passed on. My children have never met this generation of family and have no interest in looking at the pictures and films. The images in digital form might be stored for eternity but future viewing of them is unlikely.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

jeffkempton wrote:

My father once enlightened me to the fact that I may soon be the last person left alive to remember the great grandparents, aunts, and uncles. I have photographs and 8mm films of family members that have all passed on. My children have never met this generation of family and have no interest in looking at the pictures and films. The images in digital form might be stored for eternity but future viewing of them is unlikely.

When a print can be passed on, if only for decorative purposes, and that not even in the same family...

Stephan G

jeffkempton wrote:

My father once enlightened me to the fact that I may soon be the last person left alive to remember the great grandparents, aunts, and uncles. I have photographs and 8mm films of family members that have all passed on. My children have never met this generation of family and have no interest in looking at the pictures and films. The images in digital form might be stored for eternity but future viewing of them is unlikely.

An aside: You might suggest to them to view a PBS program, Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
This may explain to them that they are the gatekeepers for their offsprings.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

RodeoMan wrote:

Isn't this a photography forum, or did I miss something? If you only care about your photography, why are you on this site and even if you do only "have a zero interest in how anyone else enjoys their work" why would you label another member on this forum "a useless busybody" because they made the mistake of commenting on the topic being discussed.

I have resolved to make a greater effort to stay out of these meaningless chit-chat threads.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

I guess to the original question is, you do what you want with your pictures. Photography can be a different thing to each of us. I take pictures that I hope people will hang in the office or home and want to look at or for a newspaper. Others do it for other reasons.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

cdayton wrote:

My guess (speculation) is that on an average current sunny day on the Colorado Plateau, more photographs are taken than during the entire 20th century. How many are worth printing?

Maybe about a month's worth?

whfowle Loc: Tampa first, now Albuquerque

I've never worked in a film lab so I don't know for sure but aren't all prints today made from a digital file?

lsupremo Loc: Palm Desert, CA

Linda From Maine wrote:

That's just evolution and life ("better to look forward" as Bill says). How many people younger than 30 are interested in having printed photos hung on their walls as art? But there is a huge social impact with photography on Instagram, Facebook etc.

As for digital vs. film, and technical advances, Gene points out the value of the evolution.

Makes me wonder wonder what “people under 30” hang on their walls?