RodeoMan wrote:
Paul, I think that if we want our images to move forward into the future, we need to put them in print form. I collect images from St Joseph photographers and often look in thrift and similar stores. I have never seen an envelope or box with sd or cd cards inside or whatever. Heretofore, photography informed the world not only in the era in which it was created but into the future. Now for all practical purposes it only lasts until someone hits the delete key. What you suggest is feasible for moving personal family images from one generation to another. However, I would be hard pressed to extract images from a floppy disc or a zip drive. Yes, I know it can be done, but who will look at a box of floppies or discs and take the time and spend the money to locate a service to even find out what is contained on them? I'm sure that you have personal family images that you will transfer on to specific individuals, but you also have shared images on this forum which records your Chicago surroundings which I believe to be worthy of existing beyond the present. My concern is how do we move these images, as well as the more personal ones into the future.
Paul, I think that if we want our images to move ... (
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I fear this call for physical printing is a wish for something / someday past that no longer exists. Excluding slides, for decades of the 20th Century (not this 21st), the only way to see / share / save images was to have them printed, both the good and the bad from every roll of film. Those days are long, long gone.
When I spoke earlier about the "transmit" of the images, I meant a) using a digital media that is useful to the receiver and preferably b) getting those images onto the 'active' media used and maintained by the receiver. So, camera cards or legacy disk formats fail this requirement. Rather, the photographer would be expected to do much of the following tasks:
1, Cull and edit all images to transfer.
2, Rename files to descriptive names, but not too 'long', probably just a date, subject and counter - 20230514 Mothers Day 001.
3, Convert all files to a display format (aka JPEG) and a screen filling resolution, 2048px on the long side.
4, Embed all possible and applicable keywords, such as full names of people, the places (city, state, restaurant, etc).
5, Organize all images into relevant folders, not an unorganized dump of "My Pictures".
6, Write a ReadMe document explaining how and what is being shared in this image file transfer. Include your wishes these files 'live on' after you're gone.
7, (Extra) If you have some dream of images ever being printed, consider including 'print ready' files
also, in clearly separated folders. Explain the purpose of these additional files in the ReadMe file.
8, Actively discuss and attempt to be physically present when all these files are
copied from the transfer media onto the receiver's active media (hard drive).
9, Repeat this transfer to multiple family members in the hope the wider the distribution, the more likely someone will care and keep the files.
10, (Extra) Work with the receiver to execute their own local back-up processing so the newly copied images are incorporated into the receiver's back-up media / archive strategy.