Photo storage question

[catherine]

I don't trust anything.

So I store my photos and important documents in several different cloud services, as well as keeping local copies, and using both an on-site and an external backup service.

It is also important to consider what file formats you are saving your documents and photos in, and to do a little thinking about the longevity of software standards and programs to decode various data formats. I don't bother to save RAW format photo data for most things, as I suspect if I ever go back to that image 20 years from now, I'm not going to bet that anyone's software will nicely interpret the proprietary RAW format camera data.

I agree... Can you imagine if we all had saved the only copies of our photos on floppy disks? I still have one floppy and sometimes I think, "maybe there's something important on this" but there is no way I'm going to the lengths it would take to find someone with an old floppy disk drive so I can find out there's nothing of value on it.

What if there's a cyberwar and everything on the Cloud is gone or inaccessible? Even if it is accessible, what are you putting in place to ensure that people you would want to see it even know it's there and then how to access it?

I make yearly calendars for my kids' families and for myself, and I put the best pictures of the previous year on the appropriate months. That's one way I keep hard copies. I also store family history photos and text on Ancestry.com and print and store the same stuff filed away in a "genealogy" folder in my file cabinet.

One thing I've been thinking of doing is trying that Shark Tank product: https://www.groovebook.com. Seems easy and methodological.

Or you could simply just choose the best pictures to put in an old-fashioned scrapbook of some kind, and then throw the "can't decides" into a box for the next generation to figure out. (If you do that, try to at least identify people in the photos on the back.)

[Tybee]

That's what do, Catherine. I find it's really easy to pull out pictures when I want to show the kids somebody from the past, usually because their kids are a dead ringer for that person.

Although we had an eerie moment last week when I played around with a current picture of myself and put it through an age regression app and it looked exactly like my granddaughter. I sent it to my son, who said it was "mindblowing."

[catherine]

That's what do, Catherine. I find it's really easy to pull out pictures when I want to show the kids somebody from the past, usually because their kids are a dead ringer for that person.

Although we had an eerie moment last week when I played around with a current picture of myself and put it through an age regression app and it looked exactly like my granddaughter. I sent it to my son, who said it was "mindblowing."

That is so cool... we often try to tie the looks of the child to one parent or another, but genetically, there's a lot that genetically connects a person to their grandparents. I've often thought that my 1st son looks exactly like my mother did, according to the old pictures I have. I've seen pictures that show a resemblance of Princess Charlotte to a picture of Queen Elizabeth at the same age. I was recently reviewing a photo of my great-grandfather who I think looks a lot like my son.

I'd love to see that age regression app!

[Tybee]

It's called FaceApp and it's free; you install it, then use the camera on yourself, then you can age or de-age you.

[Tybee]

Here is what it did when I took a photo in the car, first old me (aging me) then young me (regressing me):
old me resize.jpgyoung me resize.jpg

But it was from the same photo of actual me--just added 20-30 years, then subtracted 60 years.

[catherine]

It's called FaceApp and it's free; you install it, then use the camera on yourself, then you can age or de-age you.

Thanks--I don't need the age version.. the "how old am I" app is depressing enough.

But I'll try the de-age function!

[Tybee]

I actually got it for the aging one because I was reading a book about retirement and it said to do it and then use the old picture to inspire you to take care of yourself in retirement.

It was SO depressing and creepy that dh and I both said we didn't want to do it anymore.

[catherine]

Here is what it did when I took a photo in the car, first old me (aging me) then young me (regressing me):
old me resize.jpgyoung me resize.jpg

But it was from the same photo of actual me--just added 20-30 years, then subtracted 60 years.

That is so cool! (love "old" version hair!)

[Tybee]

Yeah, my nose seemed to get a lot bigger and I look like my Uncle W.A.

[ApatheticNoMore]

It sounds really really depressing. Yea one has to take care of themselves in the future, but one first needs to survive until then, and that's often the conflict.