Our photographic legacy

[markjwyatt]

No children, no family of real meaning...
hence it will all be Garbage like most things
once we leave this World. All very Existential

Just Beautiful Memories ... like those we have Loved, Touched, Shared with

The Spanish thought platinum was garbage, even compared to silver (they named it platina- "little/small/diminutive" silver).

 

[helen.HH]

Please excuse me for being a contrarian but the work you've posted on this site is far from being Garbage! Shoot for yourself and be pleasantly surprised when others get it.

Hello Franko,

perhaps I sound harsh /contrite
What I meant: I do not view my photos as 'Garbage'
and certainly love when 'Viewers' are transported, questioning, bemused
but once I leave this World, it's all Garbage...
I certainly had a damn grand Time in creating it !

Thank You for your kind comments about my photos 😉

 

[helen.HH]

The Spanish thought platinum was garbage, even compared to silver (they named it platina- "little/small/diminutive" silver).

hah, that's Interesting....in our Life Platinum and Gold rule Supreme
haha, maybe one day it will be bitcoin, go figure 🙄

 

[Dogman]

I'm in agreement with Helen. Once I'm gone, everything I have ever owned or done will more than likely be landfill. I can't change that and I don't worry about it. While I consider my photography to have value, it's only because it has been of value to me. If my photos have value to others after I'm gone, that's nice but it won't matter to me. I'm outta here.

 

[markjwyatt]

hah, that's Interesting....in our Life Platinum and Gold rule Supreme
haha, maybe one day it will be bitcoin, go figure 🙄

Well other than perhaps bitcoin, and currently greater than platinum or gold is palladium. Go figure that one!

 

[Pál_K]

Thank you all for the excellent replies to this thread.

 

[TheMapleLeafForever]

Thank you all for the excellent replies to this thread.

I think I can speak as an actual youngin (born late 1990s). I have already worried about this actually and I do wonder what will happen to my parents' letters and stacks of photo albums. Probably thousands of photos from the 1970s-early 2000s in these albums. I of course will take care of them till I die, but I am really not sure how those after me will make of artifacts like this.

I hope there are still other young people like me, but for me anyway, it is really unthinkable to even consider getting rid of things like photo albums. Unthinkable.

 

[Hari]

we're all dust in the wind

 

[zuikologist]

I am sure many universities or museums would welcome your work.

As I just told answering another thread, I'm spending these pandemic months printing a fairly large selection of my photo archive, about 25 years of work, 99% film based. I must say the result is pretty stunning. So many good single photos, so many good series and documentary stuff, not only from Europe, but especially Japan, ex-Soviet countries, Mongolia, China, Iran, Afghanistan.. Again modesty aside, an awful lot of photographs that - if taken in another epoque - or in our time by someone with an established name - would be displayed in galleries and printed in books. But that, being instead mine, no one will ever see printed.. Aged 48, I have no kids who will treasure my work. As soon as my wife and I are gone, all of it will probably just be garbage. I take it as a form of meditation on my own impermanence.

PS: No, sharing on social media does not appeal to me. I'm a bad editor, can't choose among my images and what I dump on my little website is more a random selection than a curated one, and certainly a drop in the ocean compared to the rest of the archive.

 

[Pál_K]

This may be true of some other people as well, but my interest in preserving photos isn’t so much the “art” I’ve created (which is at most a very small percentage of my photos), but the memories and stories of people - even pets.

My photos of old neighborhoods, the city, buildings, and countrysides may eventually be discovered and valued, but my wish was to have family cherish our family history and legacy through photos.

I do believe that printed material is the best way to do this. My aunt’s self-printed book, which contains some photos, is an example.

 

[Franko]

Pal K, I believe you are exactly right. Our best hope is a well edited book - much more likely to survive the ages than loose material that requires a lot of storage space. Realistically, how many display sized prints wind up framed and displayed by anyone but you - if that? Pick yourself a good online book printing service and get with it. The convenience will make them much more enjoyable to you and much more likely to be valued by others. Many services offer archival materials, the only way to go if you want them to last.

 

[Joao]

So what will become of your photos, your work? Do you believe your family will cherish them and pass them on? Do you care?

An interesting article dealing with this question and other related issues (warning : one strong graphic image in the article).

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/snapshot-collectors/501614/


Regards

Joao

 

[John Bragg]

I am hoping that my Daughter will have an interest in my photos.. She is only 4, but shows a keen interest and loves helping me scan and print my film. If she loses interest, then fair enough, but I would hope she inherits my cameras and love of photography. She has a keen eye already and has done "School Portraits" of all her soft toys. There is every hope ! Meanwhile I continue to doccument the living relatives.

 

[Pál_K]

An interesting article dealing with this question and other related issues (warning : one strong graphic image in the article).

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/snapshot-collectors/501614/…

Fascinating article. The mom giving the author (as a kid) a camera to “save” things is something I can relate to (I won’t spoil the ending).

 

[markjwyatt]

we're all dust in the wind

Please stay away from my negatives 🙂