The end of the family album (Page 2): Recently and interestingly discussed last week in “How are you preparing your photo collection for the next generation?”...

genocolo Loc: Vail and Gasparilla Island

Recently and interestingly discussed last week in “How are you preparing your photo collection for the next generation?”

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

gvarner wrote:

At 77, I suspect that the concept of the family album will disappear with my generation. The digital world is loaded with photos that are just a click away, so easy to do that children can do it, and easy to share. In the days of yore there was only one, maybe two family members who snapped away at birthdays and other events, making prints and storing them away for posterity. Now the ether is flooded with such images, take your pick.

Well I guess that still constitutes an album, it's just the format that's changed.

Bubbee Loc: Aventura, Florida

I love family albums! I keep mine up-to--date for myself and my Daughter, and now,with the birth of my first Great-Grandchild, am including my Grandson and his Fiancee/Mom ("Marriage is just a sheet off paper "). I also make thumb drives in addition to sending links to all.
Keeps me busy! My labor of Love!

ronpier Loc: Poland Ohio

gvarner wrote:

At 77, I suspect that the concept of the family album will disappear with my generation. The digital world is loaded with photos that are just a click away, so easy to do that children can do it, and easy to share. In the days of yore there was only one, maybe two family members who snapped away at birthdays and other events, making prints and storing them away for posterity. Now the ether is flooded with such images, take your pick.

Since I went digital in 2005 I have every kept photo labeled and organized in albums along with cloud storage. My goal this year is to scan, label and store in digital albums my non digital images from pre 2005. My next goal is to scan, label and store the images taken by my mother dating back to the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s that are in family albums. Quite a task but the end result could be well worth it.

wcmoorejr Loc: Birmingham Alabama

gvarner wrote:

At 77, I suspect that the concept of the family album will disappear with my generation. The digital world is loaded with photos that are just a click away, so easy to do that children can do it, and easy to share. In the days of yore there was only one, maybe two family members who snapped away at birthdays and other events, making prints and storing them away for posterity. Now the ether is flooded with such images, take your pick.

I am quite a bit younger but we still keep family albums. i also have 12TB of local photo storage with cloud backups. My wife does scrapbooking. We go through 400+ pages a year all with notes.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

gvarner wrote:

At 77, I suspect that the concept of the family album will disappear with my generation. The digital world is loaded with photos that are just a click away, so easy to do that children can do it, and easy to share. In the days of yore there was only one, maybe two family members who snapped away at birthdays and other events, making prints and storing them away for posterity. Now the ether is flooded with such images, take your pick.

You are probably right. I have no one to give my family albums too. I'm 67. Married but no kids, no nieces or nephews. The end of the line for my immediate families. Cousins all seem to have the pictures they need. My parents were both the youngest of their siblings. I have fourth and fifth, etc. cousins I do not even know of.

FunkyL Loc: MD

Mac wrote:

I have come to the conclusion that when I die few if any will look at my pictures. Look at how pictures are stored these days. Remember when we stored them on Floppy Discs, then CDs? Who knows what will come along in the future?

I have the role of family photographer, and inherited Mom and Dad's photos and slides. Whether in albums or boxes, most had no identification, so many from before my childhood or for which I was not present were meaningless. Starting around 20 years ago I picked away at making albums with timeline and whatever context and ID I could find, talking with family friends and relatives. Hundreds of them were simply discarded; some duplicates, some technically poor or deteriorated, many simply not identifiable.

I realized that one can't really look at thousands of photos, whether printed or digital. I still like looking at printed photo albums, and these days I make printed albums, always including dates and context, and choosing only a few photos from any one event or time. My nieces will inherit them, and I hope that they will enjoy them, but I realize they may be stored away or discarded. I enjoy my hobby anyway.

SAVH Loc: La Jolla, CA

genocolo wrote:

What online service do u use and are u happy with it! I know there are many. How many pages do you shoot for in each book?

I am not sure what system Lighthouse uses but I have used Shutterfly almost since they started and am fully satisfied with their services. I find their customer service to be excellent and readily available. I have all of my digital pictures stored on Shutterfly (at no cost to me) (and backed up separately, of course). I make calendars every year as gifts. The calendars usually are filled with people, events and scenery from that year and are individualized for the recipient. I also make photo books of key vacations as well of years with special travels, etc. I have never been disappointed with Shutterfly. They once made a printing error on a calendar and, when pointed out to them, replaced the whole series for free - and quickly. Shutterfly is one of the few companies that I have full faith in. And, no, I have no financial or other connection with the company except that I have been using them for many, many years.
Scotty

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I have a dozen or more albums upstairs, dating from when my wife and I were dating. I'm going to save a fortune on albums and those little stick corners.

crbuckjr Loc: Naples FL

Lighthouse51 wrote:

I disagree. I make albums using an online service. One for each year. One for special occasions. They come out looking great, and you can organize your prints to tell a story. My children love them!

I agree with lighthouse51......I do an album every year which features the grand kids during our summer time together. The albums are stored conveniently at our cottage. The kids compete to do stunts in order to "be on the cover"......and are eager to see how they come out in each year's album. Last summer one grand kid brought a new boy friend and the first thing she did was to grab a stack of albums ...starting with the year she was born! and came to the lake .....and showed them to her boyfriend......got a lot of ribbing from her sib and cousins.

....so, if they are in them.....they work

stanikon Loc: Deep in the Heart of Texas

BigDaddy wrote:

The down side, if there is one, is everyone today take so many pictures of everything that pictures are becoming even less interesting than they were when stuffed in the shoe box to begin with. It's so bad that popular web sites like Snapchat automatically send pictures to digital heaven after being viewed. No chance of even making it to the album or shoebox.

I agree. As I sit here at my computer, I can see 17 photo albums that contain many, many very precious memories from years ago. Many of the people in those photos are long gone making the photos literally irreplaceable. My granddaughters will have an interest in them; my great-grandchildren, not so much, but I enjoy looking through them now and then and will continue to do so as long as I can.

More photos are now taken in two (2) minutes than were taken in the entire 19th century. Getting your picture taken used to be a very big deal. Now it's routine to the point of sometimes being irritating.

greekd214

I print every shot I take. Have been since the '70s. More albums underneath.

OldSchool-WI Loc: Brandon, Wisconsin 53919

Longshadow wrote:

Yea, the "albums" are now on a computer or phone.

If they didn't, they'd probably have dozens of book albums.
It's so easy now to take MANY, many pictures of things.
Who wants dozens of hard albums. They're on my computer.
(Hopefully backed up!)

It i a shame and future generations will pay the price when permanent hard copies of chosen-selected photos are not preserved. It would be like not having preserved recorded music of hard copy and only on MP3 flying around. Candid cell phone snaps are great for the natural expressions on children's faces---but not so great at off moments with adults. Is that how you wish to be remembered? At an off moment with a scowl or other less the flattering look? Of course candid shots have been going on since the introduction of the candid camera--(35mm). And the "say cheese" look is not necessarily representative either. but yet was chosen probably in a mirror by the person displaying it. I, like so many can look back at studio photos of forebearers and surmise their personalities. I have tin-types from my Great Grandfather's time which do that. Now--we are overloaded with possibly "cute" images--we simply put in a directory until forgotten in a couple of years. The future will be sorry.----ew

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

gvarner wrote:

At 77, I suspect that the concept of the family album will disappear with my generation. The digital world is loaded with photos that are just a click away, so easy to do that children can do it, and easy to share. In the days of yore there was only one, maybe two family members who snapped away at birthdays and other events, making prints and storing them away for posterity. Now the ether is flooded with such images, take your pick.

I use print services like Shutterfly, Blurb, and Motif to create photo books every year - one for each grandchild on their birthday, one for each son/wife at Christmas and one for husband and me. I also do special albums for each trip we take, and for special occasions like weddings, or whatever strikes my fancy.. this year I did one about 15 years of Christmases in the family. These books are slim, easy to store, and I keep them accessible where we can grab one and thumb through it. There’s no way to “add to” these like the big old family album, but they serve a similar purpose.

Admittedly I do love the feel of the old albums. I still have my grandmother’s honeymoon album from 1908, my parents’ first album (bound in what was obviously once a brown and white cow), my own first album that came with my first brownie. But I’m glad to have hard copies of some of our favorite photos easily accessible in case no one cares to curate my digital collection once I’m gone.

OldSchool-WI Loc: Brandon, Wisconsin 53919

minniev wrote:

I use print services like Shutterfly, Blurb, and M... (show quote)

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