Wow, Fred, that's a heavy personal philosophy!
I tend to find much comfort in my past; sometimes it can seem to be an anchor against further progress but at other times it's the saving of my life, the reminder that the grimness of today isn't how all days are going to be, that things can be both good as well as bloody bad. N'est ce pas?
I too destroyed all my fashion negs and transparencies, those that I couldn't sell back to clients, when we were getting ready to leave the UK to live here in Spain. I bitterly regret that; I'm not claiming they were wonderful, I'm just saying that in that act of thoughtlessness I threw away proof of my past, which considering the volume of fashion that I had produced, makes my surviving calendar work feel pretty thin as a proof to myself of having walked that walk with some success.
My excuse to myself, and that's all it can be, an excuse, is that I had no idea the Internet was going to happen, that I never for a second imagined that fashion photography would become art, as in collectable!
Websites? Best thing ever! It's the only easily visible way of getting a handle around how people think their photography!
Have you thought of renting a wetsuit and going back under that bridge to see what remains?
Ex-girlfriends, fortunately, are very few: met and fell in love with my late wife in school. But then that is just another example of the wonderful luck that has been mine over the years, and proves to me, at least, that quality is always going to beat quantity! (That might sound like a plug for MF!)
;-)
Ciao -
Rob C