I bequeath my digital photos to * * * (Page 3): Remember "Back to the Future," how people faded in photos? That's what will happen to your online storage. Eventually, all anyone will...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Jessie wrote:

My question is, after we die and nobody pays for creative cloud anymore do all of those photos go back to their original look if they were never exported with changes

Remember "Back to the Future," how people faded in photos? That's what will happen to your online storage. Eventually, all anyone will see is a white screen.

donziska

I choose to be remembered by the beauty of my offspring than the many images I've captured. One of my sons knows how to access them but chooses instead to capture his own. I say bravo. Don

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

bdk wrote:

... sometime I may try and donate them to a library etc.

Libraries are over-run with offers of materials, and usually refused them, or dump them. Historical Society would be a better choice, especially if you can provide them in a low physical volume form, such as a disk of JPEGs.

Our daughters carefully went through my dad's stuff when he died, so I'm guessing they'll go through mine also. If they don't, my pictures have always served the purpose of providing joy for me.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

rehess wrote:

Libraries are over-run with offers of materials, and usually refused them, or dump them. Historical Society would be a better choice, especially if you can provide them in a low physical volume form, such as a disk of JPEGs.

Our daughters carefully went through my dad's stuff when he died, so I'm guessing they'll go through mine also. If they don't, my pictures have always served the purpose of providing joy for me.

Our library stopped accepting book donations. Where to store them! They have occasional book sales, but even at very low prices, they tend to accumulate and take up space.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

Kmgw9v wrote:

I understand that the vast majority of the thousands of digital images I have taken, processed, and stored, will mean little to my children and grandchildren. That is the way it is.
Even so, I will coninue to take pictures everyday. That is what I do for me.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

lwerthe1mer wrote:

Before commenting on the future of my photos, I must explain that I am a retired "trust and estate" attorney who is used to planning for the future of my clients.

Hobbyists, have you ever thought about the long-term future of our brilliant digital photos, the thousands of flowers, sunsets, wildlife, sports and family photos that each of us accumulate during a lifetime of pursuing our hobby? I personally print well less than 10% of my photos, and the others reside on computer hard drives, external hard drives, in the "cloud" and perhaps in other places. Only I know where my digital photos are stored and how to access them (at least I think I can access all of them).

Probably like you, I continue to edit and store digital photos. I love taking photos, and I equally love the editing process. I always prepare and print photo books of family vacations and holidays, which I enjoy sharing with my family. Unless I print a landscape, wildlife or micro photo, no one sees all of my brilliant compositions. I only infrequently share my photos with others. I sometimes scan through my photos, remembering with joy some of my adventures and captures. Otherwise the photos just sit neglected at some sort of electronic address and take up gigabytes of space.

What is my wife going to do with my treasure-trove upon my death? She already has all of the photo books I have made over the years. She is not very comfortable working with computers, so she will not be challenged to find the location of my photos. Although she politely compliments the landscapes, etc., which I print, she is really not interested in all of my attempts at artistic composition. She's just happy that I have a hobby I enjoy. I strongly suspect that the joy of my hobby will simply disappear in cyberspace, as hard drives are disposed of and unused cloud subscriptions expire.

Not a tragedy. I have enjoyed my hobby for years, so it has served its purpose. Not being Ansel Adams, and not being immortal, it's probably fine that the work product of my hobby simply fades away.

Something to think about.

Before commenting on the future of my photos, I mu... (show quote)

Hmmmm. I was saved from much of this problem. When I was living in Mexico in 2002, I had a blocked artery while visiting San Diego. I wound up back in the SF area in the home I owned. I sent a young man to Mexico with a truck to bring back all my "stuff". He lost all my photographs. Either he failed to load them or they "fell off the truck." This was several thousand negatives, slides and prints from 40 years of living in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and elsewhere.

In some ways, I owe the young man a debt of gratitude. I had to go through the grieving, but it left me free to move forward in new directions. I bought a new DSLR, began learning new subject matter and with help from an amazing photographer friend, started learning a new way of seeing and shooting (existential realism).

On my death (Which, at 81, might be tomorrow--or 20 years) I hope that those few of my images which I have printed and which "speak" to viewers will continue for a while. But mostly I hope that they will drive others to make their own insights and not be limited by mine. Since I avoid shooting "snapshots" or selfies, few will find any reason to preserve my images.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

lwerthe1mer wrote:

Before commenting on the future of my photos, I must explain that I am a retired "trust and estate" attorney who is used to planning for the future of my clients.

Hobbyists, have you ever thought about the long-term future of our brilliant digital photos, the thousands of flowers, sunsets, wildlife, sports and family photos that each of us accumulate during a lifetime of pursuing our hobby? I personally print well less than 10% of my photos, and the others reside on computer hard drives, external hard drives, in the "cloud" and perhaps in other places. Only I know where my digital photos are stored and how to access them (at least I think I can access all of them).

Probably like you, I continue to edit and store digital photos. I love taking photos, and I equally love the editing process. I always prepare and print photo books of family vacations and holidays, which I enjoy sharing with my family. Unless I print a landscape, wildlife or micro photo, no one sees all of my brilliant compositions. I only infrequently share my photos with others. I sometimes scan through my photos, remembering with joy some of my adventures and captures. Otherwise the photos just sit neglected at some sort of electronic address and take up gigabytes of space.

What is my wife going to do with my treasure-trove upon my death? She already has all of the photo books I have made over the years. She is not very comfortable working with computers, so she will not be challenged to find the location of my photos. Although she politely compliments the landscapes, etc., which I print, she is really not interested in all of my attempts at artistic composition. She's just happy that I have a hobby I enjoy. I strongly suspect that the joy of my hobby will simply disappear in cyberspace, as hard drives are disposed of and unused cloud subscriptions expire.

Not a tragedy. I have enjoyed my hobby for years, so it has served its purpose. Not being Ansel Adams, and not being immortal, it's probably fine that the work product of my hobby simply fades away.

Something to think about.

Before commenting on the future of my photos, I mu... (show quote)

This is a worldwide problem. Unless you are a famous sought after photographer no one will give a fig what happens to your terabytes of photos. That is why I just culled my archive throwing away about 60% of the digital images. The second step to to discard an additional 60%, keeping only family photos and others that my photoshop-LR skills may now allow me to print.

But what about all the other "stuff" you have stored on your computer: bank records, bill archives, etc. In my case I have printed all these important documents and placed them in a three ring binder labeled "The End". A copy of all these documents is in the safe deposit box on an archival Blue-Ray DVD.

lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

👍👍👍. The bottom line is that we take pictures for our own enjoyment.

quote=Kmgw9v]I understand that the vast majority of the thousands of digital images I have taken, processed, and stored, will mean little to my children and grandchildren. That is the way it is.
Even so, I will coninue to take pictures everyday. That is what I do for me.[/quote]

lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

The article you cited is excellent and very relevant to this dialogue.

genocolo wrote:

Very thought provoking question. David Pogue addressed this in his article, Why We Shoot Videos (and photos) at https://nyti.ms/2itBUxW. Good read and well worth your time to think about.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

lwerthe1mer wrote:

👍👍👍. The bottom line is that we take pictures for our own enjoyment.

quote=Kmgw9v]I understand that the vast majority of the thousands of digital images I have taken, processed, and stored, will mean little to my children and grandchildren. That is the way it is.
Even so, I will coninue to take pictures everyday. That is what I do for me.

[/quote]

I agree with taking photos for my own enjoyment. I have no thought as to what will happen to them as I do not care.

Ricinus Loc: Leduc Alberta

Mac wrote:

I too am retired and I have thought of that also. I take pictures because I enjoy it, but I have no illusions or delusions that when I go anyone will be interested in my photography. So my photos will just fade away like me.

My feelings exactly..

Mike

SS319

Are you sure you want to format this drive? [YES] <Enter>

anotherview Loc: California

This view pretty much sums up mine.

Some enjoy my photographs yet I doubt anyone will step forward with intention to preserve my photographic work. It will vanish in time -- except for the few prints.

Mac wrote:

I too am retired and I have thought of that also. I take pictures because I enjoy it, but I have no illusions or delusions that when I go anyone will be interested in my photography. So my photos will just fade away like me.

anotherview Loc: California

Others who wish to transfer their photographic legacy from one place to another really should consider having it professionally packed and then shipped by a common carrier like FedEx or UPS, or even the U.S. Postal Service.

Reinaldokool wrote:

Hmmmm. I was saved from much of this problem. When... (show quote)

pmackd Loc: Alameda CA

I think it is unfortunate not to share ones best photos other than by printing them. There are so many ways to share electronically today. I put some of mine on my Facebook page. I know people enjoy seeing them from the "likes" and comments, such as "wow." I share the links to my Flickr albums (especially for major travels) with an email distribution list of 30 or so friends. I post photos on UHH. I send photos as attachments to emails to close friends and photography colleagues on a daily basis. I also make an 11 x 14 calendar (less than $20. at Costco) every year, and send that to a few friends and relatives. As to what happens after I'm gone I haven't given much thought to that, nor is is very important to me.

When my dad passed away I found a box with over 4000 crossword puzzles of professional quality, but too small for publication in newspapers. A work of pure genius, which not one person in a million could have done. Dad had left no instructions as to their disposal. I threw them all away.