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Jan 10, 2019 22:26:45   #
Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area
 
Architect1776 wrote:
By and large the current young generation don't care at all about history including family history. I have digitized hundreds of family photos dating to the late 1800's including their great great grandfather in Mexico and his home there. Only about 10% of the younger ones looked and downloaded. Even those older ones seemed to care less. Things have changed. I still am glad I have digitized and still am digitizing these old photos, negatives and slides. I have a historical society at ASU very interested in the photos as they deal with some historical figures and events as well.
By and large the current young generation don't ca... (show quote)


It’s not about the current generation, it’s about all past young generations as well. It’s about the age of the individuals. How many 20 year olds did you know growing up that wanted to see old family pictures? Perhaps occasionally, but not really more. At 20, there who life is in front of them. There focus is on the future, not the past.

As we age and mature, the past becomes more interesting to them. Just my two cents.

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Jan 10, 2019 22:45:44   #
anotherview Loc: California
 
A Melatonin supplement might help you sleep. At your age, you may need as much as 6 milligrams of it at bedtime. Start off with 1 milligram and work up to the dosage that works for you.

The pineal gland naturally secretes Melatonin, but less of it as we age.
Curmudgeon wrote:
Being old and not sleeping as well as I used to, I woke up about 4AM a couple mornings ago with this simple thought running through my mind: The trouble with digital photography is there is no analog output.

No, stop, wait a minute! Before you go off on a rant, let me set the ground rules. This post is aimed a specific group: Over 65 years of age, grew up with parents, grandparents and if you were lucky great grandparents, owned a box camera of some kind and worked up from there, you took snapshots because that's what you did with a Brownie Hawkeye, your parents took snapshots with a Brownie Junior Six-20 or equivalent.

Now, it is holiday season 1954. The family gets together for a three generation dinner. After dinner everyone is in a mellow mood, a little wine, a drink or two for the adults and a sugar buzz for the kids. The oldsters start to tell stories about the good old days and suddenly grandma's eyes light up and she leaves the room. Two minutes later she's back with a stack of photo albums, grandpa is right behind with his arms full of shoe boxes, it's picture time. Ten minutes later there are pictures and photo albums scattered all over the room. The stories are more animated now, more wine. The kids who are still up start to learn what it was really like in the "Good old days".

Now we fast forward to 1963. Great grand parents are gone now and parents host the annual family dinner. Same scenario. Drinks, wine and dinner albums and shoe boxes come out again and we watch another generation grow up. This time though some of the pictures are Polaroid. Still everything is a snapshot.

Fast forward again 2018 we are the grand parents, maybe great grand parents. If we are lucky we still have the family dinner, we have too many drinks and too much wine. After dinner we sit around with our family and the topic drifts to the "Good old days". Suddenly my wife's eyes light up and she disappears down the hall and returns a few minutes later with a lap top computer and a stack of SD cards.

Probably just an old man's nostalgia but it doesn't seem to project the same warm feelings as passing pictures around and trying to remember where and when they were taken and telling stories about what the mean and not what they show.

That's what I mean about no analog output. There is something important being lost. To me, reading a book is preferable to reading a book on an electronic device. I hold a picture in my hand, the paper is stiff and crinkly, the picture is probably a little faded and brown but it is somehow more real than an image on a screen. The very fact of holding it makes the memory more real somehow. Again all of this could be the fantasy of a nostalgic old Curmudgeon, but...
Being old and not sleeping as well as I used to, I... (show quote)

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Jan 11, 2019 00:01:02   #
Bipod
 
berchman wrote:
No, but 100 years from now people will be looking at 100 year old inkjet prints while laughing at your rejection of technological progress.
https://www.shutterbug.com/content/how-long-will-your-digital-prints-lastbryou-may-be-surprised-page-2


I can't find even a 10-year old inkjet printer that still works.

If you did find one, it wouldn't work with your current USB interface and
your current printer device driver. And the correct drivce driver wouldn't
work with your current operating system. If you did get all that working,
it wouldn't work with the current page description language.

That's the problem with computers and software: the interfaces are rarely
standardized. But I can slap a roll of 120 film into my 1930s Zeiss Ikon
Nettar and start shooting. Then I print on my 1950s Simmons Omega
enlarger. The only interface --- 120 film -- has been a standard since it
was introduced by Kodak in 1901.

Standardization is modern and high tech. Not having standards is medieval.

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Jan 11, 2019 06:57:08   #
anotherview Loc: California
 
The JPEG file format has been around a long time. It functions internationally. We may suppose this format will remain a standard for both image exchange and viewing well into the future.
Bipod wrote:
I can't find even a 10-year old inkjet printer that still works.

If you did find one, it wouldn't work with your current USB interface and
your current printer device driver. And the correct drivce driver wouldn't
work with your current operating system. If you did get all that working,
it wouldn't work with the current page description language.

That's the problem with computers and software: the interfaces are rarely
standardized. But I can slap a roll of 120 film into my 1930s Zeiss Ikon
Nettar and start shooting. Then I print on my 1950s Simmons Omega
enlarger. The only interface --- 120 film -- has been a standard since it
was introduced by Kodak in 1901.

Standardization is modern and high tech. Not having standards is medieval.
I can't find even a 10-year old inkjet printer tha... (show quote)

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Jan 11, 2019 07:30:37   #
donrosshill Loc: Delaware & Florida
 
You have the same thoughts that I have when I get up to early and can't sleep. I to am an Old (84) fond loving Guy. You have spelled out my past and thought of the future. We currently have several boxes containing thousands of old memories in the form of small prints, 8mm movies, slides, wedding albums, etc. Now and then my wife and I sit and go through them with great and wonderful memories.
I retired as a Professional Photographer over 12 years ago. I still enjoy my craft and when I nave finished for the week I sit down and go through the Images, discard those that I don't want and then print out to a format 4x6, I then put them in a Box with all of the others.
Hard copies for us and all my family members for the future when we are gone.


Thank you for your post. Don

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Jan 11, 2019 07:34:57   #
donrosshill Loc: Delaware & Florida
 
Thanks. That is a great photograph.
Don

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Jan 11, 2019 09:01:12   #
Harryd68959
 
Totally disagree my parents and grandparents never felt they could afford the cost of film, film processing. Very few photos of family events. There were way too many problems with the act of taking that photo. I can go back and find less than ten photos of my growing up years. My mother still loves a printed out version of the hundreds photos I take at every family event. She s 89. I feel like the ease of taking multiple shots of every scene and then deleting the unusable one has meant family events are covered and enjoyed by many.

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Jan 11, 2019 09:11:48   #
berchman Loc: South Central PA
 
Bubbee wrote:
How sad, Berchman..
To each his own...


It may make you sad, but I'm happy as a clam. We don't get to choose our relatives like we do our friends, so who wants to get together with people we have nothing in common with except for the accident of birth? And who wants to be treated to a plethora of crappy, boring snapshots and slides? Because I *chose* not to have children, I had enough money to travel all over the world, to indulge in equipment for my hobbies, to build a nice, quiet house in the country.

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Jan 11, 2019 09:40:30   #
burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC
 
Curmudgeon wrote:
Not quite sure what that means


It’s a joke. Although I have 40+ years of experience with film and digital prints, I have fully embraced the digital age.

Whatever medium you like is okay! It’s the result that counts.

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Jan 11, 2019 09:45:49   #
sgt hop Loc: baltimore md,now in salisbury md
 
blue-ultra wrote:
Its all about the generation. This generation doesn't want to read a book. They want audio books. They don't want paper reports, they want it electronically. They don't want photographs to hang on the wall they want digital photos on their phone or Ipad. I know this because I am 76 yrs old work in an office with this generation and I have great, great, grandchildren. Sad but true. Just enjoy their company while you can. I know that when I am gone and they are cleaning out my stuff they will most likely throw most of it out...again, sad but true...
Its all about the generation. This generation does... (show quote)


same here...I'm 83 and have a load of negs I had processed....and I feel the same way...most of the stuff will be trashed......

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Jan 11, 2019 09:46:50   #
anotherview Loc: California
 
Ditto: "Whatever medium you like is okay! It’s the result that counts."
burkphoto wrote:
It’s a joke. Although I have 40+ years of experience with film and digital prints, I have fully embraced the digital age.

Whatever medium you like is okay! It’s the result that counts.

Reply
 
 
Jan 11, 2019 09:52:27   #
anotherview Loc: California
 
This kind of expression always brings to mind the present value of the gathered photographs and how later generations will consider them.

If we may take the past as a guide, then we already know what even a simple snapshot of a loved one means to us 100 years later. The snapshot becomes a precious link to our ancestors.

We may presume our descendants will hold a similar view of today's pictures.
sgt hop wrote:
same here...I'm 83 and have a load of negs I had processed....and I feel the same way...most of the stuff will be trashed......

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Jan 11, 2019 10:12:00   #
lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA
 
berchman wrote:
I'm of the so-called silent generation although I'm hardly silent. I welcome all the new technology. I have no sentimental feelings for 12" black and white TV's, dial phones, crappy sound coming from old radios before high fidelity stereo speakers, vinyl records that had to carefully cleaned of dust before every playing, cars with no safety features (but I do miss the aesthetics of the classic cars), no microwave ovens, no computers, no internet. Also, my only family is my wife, so I don't have to endure boring gatherings with people I have nothing in common with to go over old snapshots.
I'm of the so-called silent generation although I'... (show quote)



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Jan 11, 2019 12:17:44   #
burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC
 
anotherview wrote:
This kind of expression always brings to mind the present value of the gathered photographs and how later generations will consider them.

If we may take the past as a guide, then we already know what even a simple snapshot of a loved one means to us 100 years later. The snapshot becomes a precious link to our ancestors.

We may presume our descendants will hold a similar view of today's pictures.


One of the important things to know about history is that few people are concerned with preserving it — until they are old enough to have MADE some, or LIVED THROUGH some.

Don't worry about the younger generation not having prints. They'll figure it out.

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Jan 11, 2019 14:41:38   #
LESTAHL Loc: Colorado
 
I believe I understand your nostalgia. I am now 83 but remember the slide shows. Whenever family visited we would get out the projector and show the latest snapshots and tell the stories of where, when and why. It seemed a very convenient way to look at pictures and we could all talk about the same picture together. Yes, I still have some old pictures, tin types and portraits on photo paper of some sort as well as snapshots from the 19th century, the oldest is about 1875.
I have now converted many of those old slides into digital images and also printed many of them. I have also digitized the old photographs. They have been shared with family through the magic of email.
I do appreciate your nostalgia, don't lose it.

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