After death: What shall happen to our photos?

[runswithsizzers]

It is becoming increasingly likely that starvation due to climate change, or a world war, or a viral pandemic -- or some combination thereof -- is going to result in a huge reduction in the number of humans on planet earth. Those that survive are going to be far too busy trying to stay alive to worry about our stupid photos.

Have a nice day!

 

[Saganich]

I've been rolling this issue around in my head and on the one hand I agree that 100,000's of years of human existence will eventually culminate in a dull gray geological band about 3 inched thick and on the other hand I still feel compelled to wake up every morning and add 50 to 60 rolls a year to this issue. In the end I feel it is foolish to attempt to predict what may or may not be a burden. I'm conscious that every frame I expose has some potential relevance for someone in this world but whether or not any of that is realized is mostly up to me here and now.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I am planning to take my Hasselblads and their lenses with me.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Après nous, le déluge

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I am planning to take my Hasselblads and their lenses with me.

That will be quite a sight. A hearse pulling a U-haul.

 

[Pieter12]

Après nous, le déluge

Thank you, Madame de Pompadour.

 

[Pieter12]

It is becoming increasingly likely that starvation due to climate change, or a world war, or a viral pandemic -- or some combination thereof -- is going to result in a huge reduction in the number of humans on planet earth. Those that survive are going to be far too busy trying to stay alive to worry about our stupid photos.

Have a nice day!

I doubt even archival processing and storage will make it the long.

 

[Sirius Glass]

That will be quite a sight. A hearse pulling a U-haul.

The coffin will have built in storage.

 

[mshchem]

What if heaven has 220 and all you have are 120 backs

 

[Don_ih]

What if heaven has 220 and all you have are 120 backs

Doesn't matter. All the photography chemicals would also be banned.

 

[Milpool]

What if heaven has 220 and all you have are 120 backs

Well, there’s a business opportunity for you when you get there.

 

[stevenjeong99]

I upload my photos on instagram and they will continue to be there after I die (provided isntagram is still in service). Plus if I have children, I'm gonna make sure they fall in love with photography!

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I upload my photos on instagram and they will continue to be there after I die (provided isntagram is still in service). Plus if I have children, I'm gonna make sure they fall in love with photography!

I'd work on getting the kids first.

 

[BradS]

What will happen to my stuff after I die?

I don't know, and I don't care, and I'm pretty sure it won't matter to me after I'm dead.
It's just not something that I even think about let alone worry about. It's just stuff.
My house could burn to the ground tomorrow and all that shit would be gone anyway.
My kids might care...or not.

 

[stevenjeong99]

I'd work on getting the kids first.

Yeah I figured that's the first step before worrying about my photos but lets say i do have children..when I die, I think i'll bring my m6 to grave and i hope my children can sell my other gear and use it towards paying for their crazy high rent in the future

 

[Pieter12]

Yeah I figured that's the first step before worrying about my photos but lets say i do have children..when I die, I think i'll bring my m6 to grave and i hope my children can sell my other gear and use it towards paying for their crazy high rent in the future

Good luck with that. I sincerely doubt the gear will be worth much in the future unless it is eminently collectible.

 

[MattKing]

Good luck with that. I sincerely doubt the gear will be worth much in the future unless it is eminently collectible.

The last two cameras I sold on Craigslist went to one 16 year old and a woman who I would guess might be in her mid-twenties.
Each was for more than $100 CDN.
So there is some value - just not high value.
Not enough to worry about, but enough to pay attention to.

 

[Pieter12]

The last two cameras I sold on Craigslist went to one 16 year old and a woman who I would guess might be in her mid-twenties.
Each was for more than $100 CDN.
So there is some value - just not high value.
Not enough to worry about, but enough to pay attention to.

Not much help with th rent, either.

 

[Don_ih]

Not much help with th rent, either.

That's what a job is for.

 

[Pieter12]

That's what a job is for.

I believe the poster specifically hoped the sale of this camera gear would help his heirs with skyrocketing rent.

 

[stevenjeong99]

I believe the poster specifically hoped the sale of this camera gear would help his heirs with skyrocketing rent.

I was just joking gents... of course my nikon f3 won't pay for even a month's rent unless for some reason it becomes a sought after collectible in a few decades for some unseen reason

 

[Don_ih]

I believe the poster specifically hoped the sale of this camera gear would help his heirs with skyrocketing rent.

Fascinating.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Even major artists with an actual career struggle to have their archive taken care of, and they're lucky to have MA or PhD students to work on their materials

My opinion is that you should take care of your photos as much as possible during your lifetime. If you have something that could be historically significant, donate it with proper documentation. And I cannot stress this enough: prune your materials, sort them, arrange them, and document them. Archivists don't have time to spare to figure out whether something is worth it or not. Also, don't expect any money in return. Your materials are costing them time, not the other way around.

Accept that not everything you've produced will remain. I managed to get a dozen of my father's photos in a proper institution, and that might be all there will ever be. Still, it means that his photos are safe, properly filed, and his bio is properly written.

 

[eli griggs]

Scan them all, with editing you would apply in a darkroom.

Next, make tiff files of all you want to share with the Universe and have them compressed into a data burst or burst and have them broadcasted in compressed burst signals into outer space in four directions, and if your energy/self is again moved even to the outer reaches, you may get to enjoy them again, on the furthest point of it all!

That's as good as it'll get in this Universe, period, IMO, other dimensions, being a matter of throwing pasta noodles onto the wall and seeing what sticks.

 

[Don_ih]

Archivists don't have time to spare to figure out whether something is worth it or not.

Actually, they do. They work full-time hours to do exactly that sort of thing. And an archivist may see something significant in what you'd prune away.

But it hardly matters. If you're not culturally significant when you're alive, your work will probably not be seen as culturally significant when you're dead.