The Fate Of Our Photos.

Stephen Frizza

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Ok it might be a little morbid to ask, but when you die what do you expect the fate of your photography to be? are you leaving them to your family? a photographic library? or is there a chance the estate sale will simply see them wind up in a trash can? Im curious what do people hope and what do people expect? have any of you made a plan for your photographs after you die?
 

Ian Grant

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It's something you have to think about. I've made arrangements with a Museum who will take my Exhibition prints which they would like for their collection, the negatives & other prints will go to the local Records Office archive department as the Museum has no facilities for access etc.

In practice the Museum will have the prints in the next year or so, and loan them back as needed for exhibitions, the negatives etc are being catalogued ready for the rRecord office as many are unprinted.

Ian
 

DannL

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I figure if Brett Weston could burn all his negatives, I should be different and boil all my prints. The point being, anybody could print my negatives better than I.
 

Christopher Walrath

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I just started printing recently so I haven't given it much thought. I would hope someone would want them.
 

Rick A

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My youngest (girl) shares my interest and at 11 she is an incredible dark room worker. She has her own cameras, but never misses a chance to grab my Contax or her moms Oly. She is an accomplished sculpter and poet, and is adding photographer to her list. I have no doubt that my art will live on in her.
Rick
 

Q.G.

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The family archive is being digitized and distributed among the family.
Personal work may rot. I don't care.
 

mrred

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I don't care. My stuff is a "just for me" thing. My camera's 'n stuff is a different story; that needs to go to someone who will actually use them.
 

Steve Smith

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ralnphot said:
My youngest (girl) shares my interest and at 11 she is an incredible dark room worker.
Click to expand...

Excellent.

My daughter who is also 11 took a liking to a Minolta SRT 100 I bought recently. She has also made some darkroom prints with me.

As far as what will happen to my prints and negatives - I will leave that for my children to decide.


Steve.
 

WGibsonPhotography

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I want someone to burn my negatives. Hopefully someone who doesnt like me will take care of that task to ensure some friend or family member doesnt decide to print them and sell them for their own personal profit (assuming any of my negatives are actually good enough to be sold to anybody). Actually my whole logic is that if I didnt pring the picture, it isnt mine. The negative would be mine, but the print wouldnt be. That being said, pretty much anybody could print a negative better than me
 

Rob Skeoch

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I do know of a photographer who had reasonable success while alive who gave his neg's to his son expecting him to carry on with the gallery and printing..... it's been like a mill-stone on this kids life.... selling the old-man's images takes most of his time and he hasn't developed any of his own talents and skills.

I'm going to make sure my images are in the Getty archive.... so instead of a room full of negatives I'm going to plague my kids with a monthly royalty check.

-Rob
 

Colin Corneau

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This is a really good question.

So far I have no real idea. I need to include this in any will, which is something else I need to do.

Ideally a child would carry this on but there are either the provincial (state) archives or else the archives of the university in my city. God knows the newspaper I work for won't do it.
 

gr82bart

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Don't know. I show less than a fraction of 1% of my work anyway, so I'm pretty sure no one will miss it if it gets ashed up with me or dumped in a landfill. I'm not pretentious enough (yet) to think my photography is worth anything to any institution save maybe a flea market.

Regards, Art.
 

Tony Egan

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My experience is it may need to skip a generation? I am the custodian of the negatives of both my grandfathers and am slowly researching and making one-of books from these archives. For a variety of reasons including economic, personal and a lack of serious interest in photography, none of the first generation had the motivation to do much with them. Sometimes there is a mixture of emotions about family photos which might require the distance of the next generation to get past? As the family member with the most obvious interest in photography they eventually ended up with me along the lines of, here, you might know what to do with these!
http://www.momento.com.au/preview.asp?b=8767-9571-0319

As for me, I hope I have the longevity and time to give it serious thought. I have a vision of producing a collection of "final" fine art prints for my three children which I hope might survive over the generations. As others have said my "personal" photographs have been sustenance to me. Whether or not they might do the same for others is of secondary significance. Some of my gig photos might eventually have some historical or social significance about the local music scene and I have thought they might go to the state library if they'll take them.

Stephen, did you see the recent George Caddy exhibition at SLNSW? Your question is very relevant given that amazing body of work. How many other treasures may be out there? Will we see your Bondi Beach series there one day?
 

snegron

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Interesting thread! My photography in general is designed with posterity in mind. Most of my paid work is wedding photography, so I am assuming that the couples will keep their albums and show them to their future generations long after I'm gone. One of my biggest selling points is that I capture the moment as it happens so that they can share it with generations to come.

The second huge bulk of my work is of my family. I have digitized most of it and stored backups in the hopes that my children will be able to look back at a pictorial history of their childhood. Of course, I hope they don't get fed up with a paparrazzi-like dad that always has a camera with him for every single ocassion; even when going to the shopping mall!

The .001% of the rest of my images are artistic stuff I have shot for my own personal satisfaction and will probably have no value to anyone, so it wouldn't surprise me if it ended up in a landfill.
 

resummerfield

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That's been my experience, too. I inherited the family "photo archives" and I'm printing some of the many negatives my grandmother took as a young girl in the '20s.

So I think I'll pack my negs and will them to my first grandchild (or, if I live long enough, to the grandchild who shows the most interest!).
 

mpirie

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Andrew O'Neill said:
I'm taking them with me...and my canham.
Click to expand...

I'd like to think my daughter or grand-daughter would look after them once I'm gone, but so far, neither have shown anything more than polite interest.

How about lying on a small boat wrapped up in a shroud, surrounded by piles and piles of negatives and prints with your favourite camera on your chest and tripod by your side, then being set alight and pushed off into a fjord towards Valhalla, like something from The Vikings?

Knowing our luck, the sun will break through the clouds just then with a stunning view, and we'd be unable to setup the tripod in time

Seriously though, it's something we should all consider as (regardless of how pretentious we may be) everything we have done is of value, otherwise we'd never have exposed the film in the first place.

I just hope someone appreciates what I've done, even if it is just the visual ramblings of my life.
 
OP
OP

Stephen Frizza

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"How about lying on a small boat wrapped up in a shroud, surrounded by piles and piles of negatives and prints with your favourite camera on your chest and tripod by your side, then being set alight and pushed off into a fjord towards Valhalla, like something from The Vikings?"

make sure its all nitrate stock
 

Thomas Bertilsson

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If somebody chooses to purchase one of my prints, or ask me to photograph them or one of their family, or perhaps a keepsake or other belonging, then they'll likely keep them around.
I'm not going to ask anybody in my family to take care of my photographs unless they show an interest in doing so, as I don't wish to add a burden to their lives.
The scenario would change if I ever was to make a name for myself, then owning and selling prints would be a potential benefit.
I'll let the family decide. It's not a big deal or concern, as photography enriches my life when I'm alive, and that's the point.
 

Ian Grant

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Perhaps I'm in a different position, although all my work has been self funded at the taking stage I have had Arts Council Grants (UK funding) for my major exhibitions, so I feel obliged to let the funding bodies have a say . .

Ian
 
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