future

[Iluvmycam]

You do understand this is the Pro Business section of the forum.

If you want a hobby, great. And as you pointed out, the world is full of photographs. What is the point of keeping the output from one person?

The topic was with future preservation. If my feedback is not wanted, then no problem I will unsub from the thread.

[bill t.]

Maybe Google will establish an Old Photographs Home.  Fill up legions of hard drives with them, drop them off at the Smithsonian's door step in the middle of the night.  If the cost of mortar bricks keeps rising, this could be useful.

Of course, if future technologies can encode such amounts of data down to a physically small and enduring format, all the better.  Make a lot of those things, spread them around.  The only reasonable hope for image hoarding now is the that sometime within the lifetime of present media somebody will we able and willing to put it all into a manageable form about the size of a Rubix Cube.  Too bad the ancient Romans and Greeks  etc didn't do that, how fascinating their point & shoots would be.

But consider this...we are living in the first time in history when it is possible for every human on Earth to leave their image to posterity.  I'm gonna write a proposal right now to create a piece of art 6 feet high by 2000 miles long containing a 1 x 1.5 inch portrait of every living human being.  Awards will be given for Best Portrait and Cutest Baby, am looking for judging volunteers.

For the next project, every human being will submit their favorite snapshot at 4 x 6 inches.  That wall will extend 6 feet high by 1.3 times around the equator.  No cat pictures, and no slot canyon shots.

[jnmoore]

You are right that there would be a lot of redundant and not so hot photos but some of these rejects may hold some unknown significance for a historian looking at them 200 years from now. If you are archiving photos for historical or documentary purposes it is difficult to tell what should be eliminated. A very big diffuculyy, however, would be tagging the photos for search. The ability of compters to recognize faces and many other things is moving ahead quickly so it may not be a terrible issue in the future.

John

[theguywitha645d]

The topic was with future preservation. If my feedback is not wanted, then no problem I will unsub from the thread.

There is no problem with your feedback, but economics is a real part of this. Documents must have value or they will not be saved. Simply dismissing this by saying you do this for love and not money is very nice, but that will not stop folks from erasing your drives when you die. Your work has a better chance of surviving if it is valued during your lifetime.

[Iluvmycam]

There is no problem with your feedback, but economics is a real part of this. Documents must have value or they will not be saved. Simply dismissing this by saying you do this for love and not money is very nice, but that will not stop folks from erasing your drives when you die. Your work has a better chance of surviving if it is valued during your lifetime.

That is right. $ value helps a great deal. But the vast majority of us are not valued for $. Museums brag how they get 90%+ of their collection by donation. It is very hard to sell phjotos to museums or even to get them to take photos for free unless your a big name or they really want your work.

I shoot ugly photos, so they only have a value to collectors. And without a big name, collectors are not interested. Those are the problems I must deal with. Am trying to build more of a name.

[louoates]

I'm in the process of doing some picture books of various subjects that happen to comprise some of my best work. Books seem to be as permanent as anything else I can foresee. A see zero possibilities of anything digital surviving very long, mainly due to "hey, I'm not wading through grandfather's 6 terabyte hard drives!"
In one of my series I use 80 to 120 year old black/white studio portraits as basis for composites. You can still find thousands of those portraits in antique malls and flea markets selling for $2-$5 ea. Most have the photographer's name/studio embossed into the frame. Not bad for longevity. And cheap ingredients for me.
My unsold prints usually end up in thrift stores selling for a buck apiece on a good day. I'm sure some of them end up thumb-tacked on the wall. At least they'll be enjoyed for a while.
After participating in several family estate house-clearances I understand how important it is to get rid of stuff. What was very important to Uncle Jim was just dumpster fodder for the descendants. I plan to specify that all electronic image files be disposed of within a week. Save the kids time and basement space.
just had a great idea. How about making a picture book of all your best work with the digital file stored right there in the book.

[bill t.]

Through an automatic ebay search I found a carte de visite wedding portrait snapped 150 years ago by a photographer who shared my full name.  I'm sure I was the first person in quite a while to care he had ever existed.  Was very poignant for me in a way I still don't really understand.



What is the basis of this strange urge to have our works survive us?

************************************************

Ozymandius

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains.  Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

[Rob C]

1.  I believe that it's a fruitless quest;

2.  I believe that it stems from ego;

3.  I believe that, further, it reflects a fear of death;

4.  I also believe that recent archaeological tv shows have a lot for which to answer, filling the screen with a pile of utterly redundant information.


If, as I accept, my own recent past is as dead as the dodo, then why would an even more distant one matter at all? The lessons of the broader world history are all well-known; there is no real value in further exploration beyond the personal satisfaction of an academia able to chisel out the funds to continue in that search amongst the detritus of time.

That anyone is willing to live on their knees, scraping at mud, says more to me than it must to the kneeler.

I'd rather bore myself even further by sitting in a bar watching a daily Spanish cookery programme. At least on the one that comes, de rigueur, with my menu del dia, there are two fine, stretched aprons to engage the mind and distract from the fare I eat. Even the Spanish news girls are more attractive than the ones on Sky, never mind the cooks!

(Yesterday afternoon I figured out how to load music off a pendrive onto my cellphone; I shall now be able to eat, watch the aprons and listen to rock 'n' roll all at the same time! I am so pleased that I eventually understood how to convert all those cassettes into mp3.)

Happy shooting, but go easy on the printing: you don't really need it.

Rob C

[Iluvmycam]

Through an automatic ebay search I found a carte de visite wedding portrait snapped 150 years ago by a photographer who shared my full name.  I'm sure I was the first person in quite a while to care he had ever existed.  Was very poignant for me in a way I still don't really understand.



What is the basis of this strange urge to have our works survive us?

************************************************

Ozymandius

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains.  Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

If nothing else, I feel an obligation to the people I have memorialized to try and preserve their story. Many of them have died. So it would be nice to archive something about their life.

I think most humans would like their life's work passed on in some way from generation to generation as opposed to having it all end up as trash in a landfill.

Ebay is also a good source to see what prints do sell for. Search for 'silver gelatin prints.'

[Iluvmycam]

I'm in the process of doing some picture books of various subjects that happen to comprise some of my best work. Books seem to be as permanent as anything else I can foresee. A see zero possibilities of anything digital surviving very long, mainly due to "hey, I'm not wading through grandfather's 6 terabyte hard drives!"
In one of my series I use 80 to 120 year old black/white studio portraits as basis for composites. You can still find thousands of those portraits in antique malls and flea markets selling for $2-$5 ea. Most have the photographer's name/studio embossed into the frame. Not bad for longevity. And cheap ingredients for me.
My unsold prints usually end up in thrift stores selling for a buck apiece on a good day. I'm sure some of them end up thumb-tacked on the wall. At least they'll be enjoyed for a while.
After participating in several family estate house-clearances I understand how important it is to get rid of stuff. What was very important to Uncle Jim was just dumpster fodder for the descendants. I plan to specify that all electronic image files be disposed of within a week. Save the kids time and basement space.
just had a great idea. How about making a picture book of all your best work with the digital file stored right there in the book.

Yes, photo books are a way to archive some of our work. Write to publishers of photo books. If that does not work out, try Blurb. Or if you want to get a better price, use a good short run printer.

[Iluvmycam]

Since $ was brought up as a foundation for preservation. A good exercise for you to do would be to see where you fit into the economics of prints sales. You can do this by checking with photo galleries to see if they will represent you.

Here is a listing of galleries in the US.

http://art-support.com/galleries.htm

[DeanChriss]

Prints, people, mountains, planets, solar systems, galaxies, and the universe itself have beginnings and endings. Change fills the time between. Everything is transient. Relative to mountains and planets things like people and paper are just a flash in the pan. The best anyone can hope to do is have a bright flash.

[Alan Klein]

Some related thoughts on this and that.

When you die, your wife's next husband will throw out all your pictures.

Dust to dust.

Do people who freeze their bodies cryogenically after death really expect to come back some day?  Maybe they can freeze your negatives with you.  Maybe,  I'll be more famous after I'm dead than now.  Can't wait!  

All kidding aside, if you want to be remembered and your photography too, make prints and frame them beautifully.  Then give them as gifts to friends and families.  They will mount them on the walls of their homes (maybe).  Then they will preserve your work with the added benefit of you getting a really nice thank you every time you visit their house while you're still alive.  Enjoy your posterity now.

[Iluvmycam]

Prints, people, mountains, planets, solar systems, galaxies, and the universe itself have beginnings and endings. Change fills the time between. Everything is transient. Relative to mountains and planets things like people and paper are just a flash in the pan. The best anyone can hope to do is have a bright flash.

Yes, all true. But we try to maximize our stay.

[Iluvmycam]

Some related thoughts on this and that.

When you die, your wife's next husband will throw out all your pictures.

Dust to dust.

Do people who freeze their bodies cryogenically after death really expect to come back some day?  Maybe they can freeze your negatives with you.  Maybe,  I'll be more famous after I'm dead than now.  Can't wait!  

All kidding aside, if you want to be remembered and your photography too, make prints and frame them beautifully.  Then give them as gifts to friends and families.  They will mount them on the walls of their homes (maybe).  Then they will preserve your work with the added benefit of you getting a really nice thank you every time you visit their house while you're still alive.  Enjoy your posterity now.

My work is of the ugly variety. No one would hang it up. Just museums or collectors would keep some in their collections. I have had some success with getting my work placed. But very, very tough work. In 7 months, 340 solicitations and maybe 22 placements out of the 340.

[Rob C]

My work is of the ugly variety. No one would hang it up. Just museums or collectors would keep some in their collections. I have had some success with getting my work placed. But very, very tough work. In 7 months, 340 solicitations and maybe 22 placements out of the 340.

In any other endeavour (or context!), people would say: buddy, isn't this telling you something?

Rob C

[framah]

Some related thoughts on this and that.

When you die, your wife's next husband will throw out all your pictures.

Dust to dust.

Do people who freeze their bodies cryogenically after death really expect to come back some day?  Maybe they can freeze your negatives with you.  Maybe,  I'll be more famous after I'm dead than now.  Can't wait!  

All kidding aside, if you want to be remembered and your photography too, make prints and frame them beautifully.  Then give them as gifts to friends and families.  They will mount them on the walls of their homes (maybe).  Then they will preserve your work with the added benefit of you getting a really nice thank you every time you visit their house while you're still alive.  Enjoy your posterity now.

The answer to ALL of this is right here in that quote!!!
   
FRAME THEM BEAUTIFULLY!!! Yep!! That's it, right there!  ...plus, then I get to keep paying for my Mercedes!!

[Iluvmycam]

In any other endeavour (or context!), people would say: buddy, isn't this telling you something?

Rob C

Well you give it a try with your 'pretty' photos. Send them out to museums and see what response you get?

[Iluvmycam]

Antother area you guys or gals can archive photos at is the Wiki Commons.

I put all my 2nd rate stuff there. Things that are not museum worthy, but things I am not embarrassed to have connected with my name.

[Iluvmycam]

Yea Pete. I lost 2 decades of work from a flood. I feel the pain. I am very careful now before I lose more.