Your Photographic Legacy - What do you want to leave behind?

[jsrockit]

I don't think of this really. I just go out and make my photos for my projects. Once I feel there are enough quality images for a project, I will see what I can do with them. In the future, who knows... I'd be very lucky for someone to care enough about what I did after I'm gone. It's a long shot though.

I can say that I have make a book of all of my favorite images each month for the last 2 years or so.

 

[noisycheese]

I have no pretense to fame and as far as photography is concerned I will only leave my Leica rangefinder behind and a few boxes of Kodachromes.

For me, photography has never been about fame. It has never been about "getting rich."

First and foremost, it has always been about making my life rich, enjoyable and fulfilling. If other people also like my images, great. If not, so what? I photograph for myself; I do not photograph to please other people or to get their money or their praise.

A lot of people fixate on the money issue - "how can I make money with my camera?" That is the road to burnout.
I once worked for a guy who did weddings and commercial photography. This guy loved photography - he was quite good, but he ended up quitting photography. It had become a job. It had become a pain in the ass. The pursuit of money had wrung all the joy out of photography for him. He was burned out and he quit making photographs.

The guy who does my inkjet printing is in a similar situation - he is a commercial photographer and is very successful in terms of making money (after 20 years of barely scraping by). At present, he is being run into the ground by the demands and expectations of paying clients. He does not run his photography business - it runs him. It looks like he is walking on thin ice in terms of burnout. I hope he does not end up disliking photography; he is a very talented photographer and I would truly hate to see him quit photography like my former employer did.

In my world, photography is a quality of life issue - it is a journey that never ends, a pursuit that brings me much satisfaction and happiness. I really work at keeping it that way by photographing only what I want to photograph and how I want to photograph it (on film). I'm not making much money at present, but that's okay. When it comes to photography and money, I have learned that there is no instant gratification. I can live with that.

YMMV.

 

[nikon_sam]

I don't have a plan for what happens to the things (cameras/photos/negs/gear) that get left behind when I go...my hope would be that my kids see some as worth keeping mostly for sentimental reasons...like what they would see as my favorite camera or my favorite photo...they already have copies of the photos I took of them...maybe they'll find the extras or the edited ones and like them enough to hang on to...
As for the gear...cameras...hopefully, by the time they get them film will be gone and all they will be good for is being a paper weight...I don't feel that they should be burdened with having to keep any of it just because I owned them...placing more value on the prints rather than the tools...
What I would like for them to remember is that dad loved photography, that he gave it away more than he kept it, that he would talk about it for hours (mostly to strangers) and that it was one of the things he brought from his childhood that he truly loved and something they saw him do all of their lives...

 

[Darthfeeble]

I would hope to leave behind my joy at being passionate about something and the complete lack of shame in immersing one's self in it. If my heirs feel the pix are worthy that would be nice.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

"Take only pictures, leave only footprints"

...and the footprints will fade, leaving nothing. It's the reality of the universe and we are but an infinitesimal part thereof.

 

[oftheherd]

My wife couldn't care less about my cameras, and probably wouldn't care to look through any negatives or computer files.

But my kids know where everything is, and that it is all theirs to do with as they wish. My grandkids, as they get older, may also develop a desire to have some photos of mine, or cameras. But past that, since I won't be around, I'm not going to stress on it.

 

[jenquest]

I hope to leave behind my M3 and a selection of photos that show who I am to whoever comes after me in my family tree.

 

[jtm6]

I'm glad I have my film negatives. I've been transferring digital work for about 25 years now from device to device, floppies (5 1/4"), floppies (3 1/2"), syquest, zip disks, huge pre-SCSI drives, SCSI, firewire, USB, thunderbolt, blah blah blah.

But as far as legacy, I think it would be neat if someone found them later and maybe even got something out of it. Digital? I doubt anyone would be able to access them due to a technology, account, or security limitation.