Is there really a strong interest in film photography?

[Larryc001]

I've gotten lucky. My parents have been good stewards of the family images, which account for 3-4 of the most recent generations on both sides of the family.

And they ruthlessly culled their personal images of their lives down to about 300 images, covering their entire lives together from high school through their 80s. I'm going through all that stuff and digitizing it, and it is a labor of love which they have made quite easy for me. And the pics they chose are good! I love them.

Warden you are very lucky. I have taken a bit of a different approach. i have published books of my photography, both family Images and artistic work. So far I have 27 books. I also have a large volume of images on fineartamerica. I don’t know if some of my over 100,000 images will survive, or if the kids and grandkids will continue with them after my wife and I are gone. I can only hope.

 

[markjwyatt]

At my advanced age I find myself frequently thinking about dying. Specifically I wonder what is going to happen to the trillions of digital photos on computers, phones, iPads et al. I don’t think that the offspring and inheritors of these devices are going to give a s**t about what’s on them. Or on the internet. Most of these trillions of images will be simply discarded. This will not be the case for prints. Even family photo albums will be passed down, same as the ones I have which I grabbed when they were on their way to the trash. Certainly prints and framed prints will be sought by the kids when their folks have gone to the great darkroom in the sky. They won’t have a clue or any interest in digital. Just my opinion.

I kept all my parents (mainly father) pictures. He started shooting in the mid-forties, and has some excellent work. My kids love looking at the family albums. They love their grandparents (all but one deceased on both sides) and relatives. Prints matter. Not sure how digital will get transferred, but it may happen in my family.

 

[markjwyatt]

Warden you are very lucky. I have taken a bit of a different approach. i have published books of my photography, both family Images and artistic work. So far I have 27 books. I also have a large volume of images on fineartamerica. I don’t know if some of my over 100,000 images will survive, or if the kids and grandkids will continue with them after my wife and I are gone. I can only hope.

That is a good way to go, and I may do that also. My cousin in Germany put some good books together, and we love them.

 

[Oldwino]

Give a Mozart score to the local Junior High Marching Band with its tubas and kazoos, and who the heck wants to hear that?

Actually, I WOULD like to hear that!

 

[eli griggs]

Just look at the difference between generations of analog cameras and generations of digital for much of the difference in your 120,000 and 10,000 ebay cameras.

Analog cameras generally had several years before a newer, comparable camera from the same maker were introduced.

Digital however, seems to have an 18 month interval between generations and a vital spread in types, features, pixels etc, with many of those now used cameras hitting the market so the owners can fund their next buy or upgrade and those that buy many of those two generations back cameras are just as likely to do the same as good used digitals again hit the ever growing market.

Sure, analog cameras get resold all the time, but I surmise they are finding new, long term ownership, including among collectors.

Until quality Hasselblad 500 C/M's are again produced to the same quality levels, or Nikon F2's or Canon F1 AE's, etc, the digital dross will increasingly float to the top of the used camera markets.

IMO.

 

[Don_ih]

Cholenpot - what you call "little stuffs" is the essence of it all. Give a Mozart score to the local Junior High Marching Band with its tubas and kazoos, and who the heck wants to hear that? People who go around stating, "I just care for the image, not the print" need a white cane, or at least a new pair of glasses.

Not exactly. An average photo of a good print seen on the internet is more like a cassette copy of a world-class orchestra playing the Mozart heard on a boom box.

Most of these trillions of images will be simply discarded

They will. Most of them won't even be thought about before being discarded.

 

[mtnbkr]

At my advanced age I find myself frequently thinking about dying. Specifically I wonder what is going to happen to the trillions of digital photos on computers, phones, iPads et al. I don’t think that the offspring and inheritors of these devices are going to give a s**t about what’s on them. Or on the internet. Most of these trillions of images will be simply discarded. This will not be the case for prints. Even family photo albums will be passed down, same as the ones I have which I grabbed when they were on their way to the trash. Certainly prints and framed prints will be sought by the kids when their folks have gone to the great darkroom in the sky. They won’t have a clue or any interest in digital. Just my opinion.

This is why I try to print any significant digital pictures. Even if they're not actively discarded, it doesn't take much to lose them forever while they're in an electronic format (which is also why I keep multiple backups).

Chris

 

[Mike Lopez]

Not exactly. An average photo of a good print seen on the internet is more like a cassette copy of a world-class orchestra playing the Mozart heard on a boom box.

 

[Helge]

As someone within that cohort, it's also got a lot (for those who are a even just a little above the baseline of interest) to do with not having time, money or effort to waste on repetitious half-assed non-solutions dreamt up by incompetent cheapskates who seem to demand that everyone must have 30,000 cheapo lenses of every imaginable focal length (or who goes on ad nauseam about how they've supposedly done something ultra-special technique-wise, but which is really just a load of verbiage obscuring something once commonplace within relatively arcane but important sectors of the industry) but heaven forfend that someone actually buy a Leica and a 35mm &/ or 50mm (or a Hasselblad etc, etc) lens because that'll get them from A to B much faster (and more cheaply in the long run) - and fit better with how they want to make work that has some meaning to them. The impact of Intrepid can't be underestimated too - though a lot are going straight to significantly more expensive LF kit too.

I too am not familiar with what you are talking about. You seem oddly specific. Do you have some examples?

 

[Pieter12]

This is why I try to print any significant digital pictures. Even if they're not actively discarded, it doesn't take much to lose them forever while they're in an electronic format (which is also why I keep multiple backups).

Chris

I think when I am gone nobody is going to take the time to go through my computer files. If the drives are current enough, maybe they will be wiped and reused, but most probably the whole shebang will be relegated to the electronic recycling service.

 

[dutchsteammachine]

The same thing is already happening now with slides and negatives.

Just look up "35mm neg/slide lot" on ebay and you'll find hundreds of slides being sold in bags as heaps just like that. Same goes for 8mm film.

Our images are doomed after us. Makes it all the more important to share them with family and interested people.

 

[Pieter12]

The same thing is already happening now with slides and negatives.

Just look up "35mm neg/slide lot" on ebay and you'll find hundreds of slides being sold in bags as heaps just like that. Same goes for 8mm film.

Our images are doomed after us. Makes it all the more important to share them with family and interested people.

Maybe someone will luck out and find another Vivian Maeir.

 

[dutchsteammachine]

Maybe someone will luck out and find another Vivian Maeir.

There is always the chance of finding something historically significant in those lots, but you need a good eye.

 

[eli griggs]

There is always the chance of finding something historically significant in those lots, but you need a good eye.

Maybe one of you will become the next Vivian Maeir.

What I like about her photography is the frankness and the way she managed to focus on what was happening in the moment documentation, without expectations of anyone other than herself as a future viewer.

 

[Pieter12]

Maybe one of you will become the next Vivian Maeir.

What I like about her photography is the frankness and the way she managed to focus on what was happening in the moment documentation, without expectations of anyone other than herself as a future viewer.

The thing about Ms Maier was she pretty much isolated her practice from the others, unlike the members of this forum who are somewhat communicative about their work. So probably no Maiers here.

 

[Huss]

The thing about Ms Maier was she pretty much isolated her practice from the others, unlike the members of this forum who are somewhat communicative about their work. So probably no Maiers here.

Maier was a recluse. So definitely no-one here who would participate in a public forum.

But the vast majority weren't. Capa, Avedon, Adams, Arbus, Bresson, Frank, Sherman, Liebowitz etc etc.

 

[Don_ih]

Maier was a recluse. So definitely no-one here who would participate in a public forum.

Internet forums are often frequented by socially reclusive (or shy) people. They feel more free to participate without judgment and the pressure of expectation. An internet forum probably would have been a great place for Vivian Maier.

 

[Pieter12]

Maier was a recluse. So definitely no-one here who would participate in a public forum.

But the vast majority weren't. Capa, Avedon, Adams, Arbus, Bresson, Frank, Sherman, Liebowitz etc etc.

But I doubt you're going to come across a stash of their negatives or slides on eBay.

 

[Don_ih]

But I doubt you're going to come across a stash of their negatives or slides on eBay.

Yet someone found a pile of Capa's: http://photo-muse.blogspot.com/2008/01/capa-cache-discovered.html

 

[Pieter12]

Yet someone found a pile of Capa's: http://photo-muse.blogspot.com/2008/01/capa-cache-discovered.html

The person in possession of Capa's negatives knew very well what he had. It was more a case (no pun intended, I think) of locating the individual who was apparently a very private man who had concerns about the negatives leaving Mexico. They weren't just found on eBay.

 

[faberryman]

My dad found the stop watch he "lost" 15 years earlier in a suitcase in the attic, but not before buying 1277 suitcases on eBay looking for it. The reason he found the stopwatch was he was cleaning out the attic because he didn't have enough room in the house to store all the suitcase he had bought off eBay. Once he found the stopwatch, he decided to stick all the stuff from the attic he didn't want to keep in the 1277 eBay suitcases, and then resell them on eBay with the description: "This suitcase is filled will all kinds of interesting stuff." The suitcases sold quickly to collectors. One guy was looking for Robert Capa negatives. And the suitcase where my dad found the stopwatch? He kept that one as his lucky suitcase.

 

[Pieter12]

My dad found the stop watch he "lost" 15 years earlier in a suitcase in the attic, but not before buying 1277 suitcases on eBay looking for it. The reason he found the stopwatch was he was cleaning out the attic because he didn't have enough room in the house to store all the suitcase he had bought off eBay. Once he found the stopwatch, he decided to stick all the stuff from the attic he didn't want to keep in the 1277 eBay suitcases, and then resell them on eBay with the description: "This suitcase is filled will all kinds of interesting stuff." The suitcases sold quickly to collectors. One guy was looking for Robert Capa negatives. And the suitcase where my dad found the stopwatch? He kept that one as his lucky suitcase.

How did he find out the guy was looking for Robert Capa negatives? If the fellow asked outright, your father would surely have looked carefully and seen if it was more than "stuff" in the suitcase.

 

[faberryman]

How did he find out the guy was looking for Robert Capa negatives? If the fellow asked outright, your father would surely have looked carefully and seen if it was more than "stuff" in the suitcase.

He found out when the guy tried to return the suitcase because he didn't think the stuff inside was interesting. My dad asked him what he thought was interesting and he said Robert Capa negatives. Sorry I left that detail out. I was trying to keep the story short.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The thing about Ms Maier was she pretty much isolated her practice from the others, unlike the members of this forum who are somewhat communicative about their work. So probably no Maiers here.

Well none of us asked her to join us, so the blame is all on us.

 

[Pieter12]

He found out when the guy tried to return the suitcase because he didn't think the stuff inside was interesting. My dad asked him what he thought was interesting and he said Robert Capa negatives. Sorry I left that detail out. I was trying to keep the story short.

Your father was generous. Most who sell things like that do not accept returns.