Having just had to deal with two huge photo and slide collections of deceased relatives, I would say:
- make it easy for those who come after you before you die, by organizing or tossing
- digitize the good stuff, drop it onto a family web site, give due consideration to the rapid pace of evolution of digital file formats
- don't expect your successors to expend any amount of effort on the project unless it is trivial
George, we can define “best” photos however we wish. I didnt mean necessarily best according to photographic standards.Best could be when the subject was at peak looks and had all of his hair, or best meaning cleanest look without excess fashion such as 80’s big hair, or as you say posed with something that characterized him.
I know. But I prefer the word "representative" as being most descriptive of what I like to see in a photo collection.Originally Posted by iris lilies
This project is still in limbo with the dining room table covered in piles of photos. One mystery photo led me to email my older brother, the family historian, to see if he knew who this fellow was. He has collected family info all the way back to the 1700s so he knew that the man was a relative who died in a mining accident in 1920. At the time, it was a family tragedy. Now I can at least write on the back who this handsome chap was. Between us, we have many photos from the family's early 20th century pioneer life which are fascinating to look at. For now, I am at least getting groups together and will go through each group one by one. I like GP's idea of a toss later pile for those I can't quite decide on yet.
My kids want the photo albums from their childhood so I kept those. I only took a few nice photos from my mom before she died. The slides she had no one wanted either so she made vhs tapes for each of us. Then she threw everything away. Nothing worse then looking at pictures of people you never knew. I have no grandchildren and I suspect that the kids will keep some of the pictures from their childhood and throw the rest away after I am gone. I rarely even take pictures on vacation anymore. I don’t see the point. My best friend wanted me to go through her parent’s slides with her and I said no way.
Oh my god that is torturous, going through old slides belong to other people.
I told her I wasn’t willing to go through my own parents slides yet someone else’s. I told her to throw them away).
My father left boxes and boxes of slides that turned out to be shots taken from airplanes.
When we were cleaning out my parents' upstairs closet we found a giant box of slides that turned out to be from the family that had owned the house before them. So 1960's slides from another family, taking up space for 50 years.
A museum may have found them interesting from a cultural perspective
As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote