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What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
I'm not planning on going anywhere anytime soon BUT I am in the process of scanning (drum, high-resolution etc) 30+ years of 4x5, 8x10, 6x6 and 617 negatives. While I have printed many of them, sold a few over the years and have some in process of going into a future book for the family, I realized that while they will exist in a digital realm on DropBox or other backup medium, there aren't too many things that will happen after that last shutter click and drop of photoflo going down the drain. If you aren't Adams, Sexton, Weston(s), Tice, Arentz, White, etc. etc. what happens?
Contemplating....
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Throw them away before I die, to save someone else having to keep them until they decide to do the same! I guess if I wanted to be dramatic, I could have a party and burn them, but I'd rather not send out toxic smoke.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
I've scanned the lot, but that only makes the question: what will happen to that?
My commercial work, my customers have had them already. Just my copies.
My family never showed interest in what I was doing, they didn't even knew what I did.
The physical stuff: all in the bin.
The website appearances: I stated in my will, that the accounts must be deleted.
When all is over, I couldn't care less. if I'm not around anymore, I can't even do that.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Often forgotten with the passage of time. Piles and piles of film (digital too) images from decades past and to this day. Many of these images cannot be made public due to usage rights (legal), many personal images cannot shared for a variety of reasons, other images are shared here and else where.
Same question came up after the gift of the life's work from another well known local artist (images have been archived at UC Berkeley). The seller was going to toss them ALL out into the trash.
Well over 300 Million images and as many videos are up loaded to just one Social Media outlet daily...
Enjoy this ride while possible, Share what is possible.. It will ALL pass with the passage of time. Change and Impermanence is a given.
Bernice
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
I hope to print portfolios for my sons -- am thinking about including the negatives with the portfolios.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
My wife of 54 years died last Sunday. She died at home in bed with cancer. I awoke at 5:30am and held her hand. She died seconds later.
She was a graduate in Interior Design (1966) from the U of Florida.
We lived in Montreal from 1968 to 1978. I am English and she is American.
Then we moved to Jacksonville FL.
In the early 1980's she made a business out of her art talent as a painter particularly water color.
She retired at 75 in 2019 after painting about 1000 watercolor paintings of mostly children (Gwen Cooper Portraits)
My life long interest in photography allowed her to "take over" my cameras except for the 4x5.
Over the years I would take an 4x5 E6 transparency of each painting for her records and the client could use it to make a giclee print of the original.
Fuji E6 will last, but what do I do with them?
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
So sorry for your loss.
Mike
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
I basically agree with Gregg. If I happen to know when I’m relatively near the end of the line, everything in a dumpster.
Even big name photographers will, or probably should do the same. You made your art. It’s done.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
shredder, already started . retina prints and other non fixed images are already grey, and a lot of what I make have no negatives so I am ahead of the game.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
i am in the process of beginning to shred beginning with the newest ones. Those over 75 years old may end up with my children.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
You guys are depressing me, but I guess we need to address the future at some point.
Why not let the images live to another generation - time has a way of creating interest.
What we see today as ordinary (not your photos, but some aspect/content in the image- cars for example or architecture)
often takes on new meaning with the passage of time. I see vintage photos all the time on instagram & am fascinated by the clothing, cars, buildings a lost time frozen - almost like cultural archeology !
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
not tossing anything
my will specs, sell it all
I have Pro seller lined up
Cash to step daughter, she is 52
NO Death Ceremony
Cremate and pour ashes anywhere easy
dust to dust
Amen
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
One of the Weston grandkids used to make a print and dry-mount the neg to the back. Some only shoot Polaroid. The Famous transfer them to the Archive in Tucson at the Univ of Arizona. Morley Baer's negs went to UC Santa Cruz. Brett Weston made a big deal about burning his negs, but it was largely a publicity stunt. The Smithsonian accepts everything.
Giving negs or prints to an institution isn't much assurance. If a new regent or curator appears on the scene, they may sell or trade these items at will. Room is tight.
As the light at the end of the tunnel becomes brighter, I hope to print portfolios. And let's face it: We've seen the discussion here on LF forum, how many images do you make to get a good one? Lots. Let's throw out the duds because if we can't print them, who can or will? Or put them on the funeral pyre.
EjW
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
I used to worry about all my prints and negatives ending up in a dumpster. Then I switched to wet plate, problem solved! Now I just worry about all my tintypes ending up in a dumpster...
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
linhofbiker
My wife of 54 years died last Sunday. She died at home in bed with cancer. I awoke at 5:30am and held her hand. She died seconds later.
Very sorry to hear that... condolences to you and yours.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
A small-time art dealer told me once that the problem with me was that I was alive, because it is easier to sell a dead artist... I suggested I should "fake" my death and act as my own agent... But forget openings with wine out of cubetainers... :(
The practical answer is in estate planning and what you request done with your body of work... Research sooner than later...
It could pay off for someone else... Look at that body of work from Vivian Meyer...
Steve K
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Woodbury
The Famous transfer them to the Archive in Tucson at the Univ of Arizona. Morley Baer's negs went to UC Santa Cruz. Brett Weston made a big deal about burning his negs, but it was largely a publicity stunt. The Smithsonian accepts everything...
Giving negs or prints to an institution isn't much assurance. If a new regent or curator appears on the scene, they may sell or trade these items at will. Room is tight
We're well into the digital age, and even a prolific photographer with a long career can put his/her images, writings, etc. on a small thumb drive and donate copies to multiple institutions, which without much work can make them available online. A small donation from the photographer or estate could guarantee the digital archive will be available for a long time, with some funds left over to support the hosting institution. I don't know of anyone doing this yet, but it seems likely it's happening or will soon. Digital storage is cheap and getting cheaper.
But the physical items, yeah...
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bmikiten
I'm not planning on going anywhere anytime soon BUT I am in the process of scanning (drum, high-resolution etc) 30+ years of 4x5, 8x10, 6x6 and 617 negatives. While I have printed many of them, sold a few over the years and have some in process of going into a future book for the family, I realized that while they will exist in a digital realm on DropBox or other backup medium, there aren't too many things that will happen after that last shutter click and drop of photoflo going down the drain. If you aren't Adams, Sexton, Weston(s), Tice, Arentz, White, etc. etc. what happens?
Contemplating....
Your wife's next husband will through them all out. :rolleyes:
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
linhofbiker
My wife of 54 years died last Sunday. She died at home in bed with cancer. I awoke at 5:30am and held her hand. She died seconds later.
She was a graduate in Interior Design (1966) from the U of Florida.
We lived in Montreal from 1968 to 1978. I am English and she is American.
Then we moved to Jacksonville FL.
In the early 1980's she made a business out of her art talent as a painter particularly water color.
She retired at 75 in 2019 after painting about 1000 watercolor paintings of mostly children (Gwen Cooper Portraits)
My life long interest in photography allowed her to "take over" my cameras except for the 4x5.
Over the years I would take an 4x5 E6 transparency of each painting for her records and the client could use it to make a giclee print of the original.
Fuji E6 will last, but what do I do with them?
I'm sorry for your loss. It seems you two had an amazing life together.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Digital archives can be problematic as the storage media / technology is fluid and changes & the data needs to be migrated periodically.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mark Sawyer
We're well into the digital age, and even a prolific photographer with a long career can put his/her images, writings, etc. on a small thumb drive and donate copies to multiple institutions, which without much work can make them available online. A small donation from the photographer or estate could guarantee the digital archive will be available for a long time, with some funds left over to support the hosting institution. I don't know of anyone doing this yet, but it seems likely it's happening or will soon. Digital storage is cheap and getting cheaper.
But the physical items, yeah...
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
These are great and insightful comments. I do wonder about all the photographers of the past who left us with fascinating yet simple images of day-to-day life around the world. I know in my heart that video, iPhones, etc have taken their place now in our hyper-documented world but there are still places for photographs that depict the artist's point of view - the moment in time. There is something to be said for simply burning or shredding negatives especially when you consider those left behind.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mark Sawyer
We're well into the digital age, and even a prolific photographer with a long career can put his/her images, writings, etc. on a small thumb drive and donate copies to multiple institutions, which without much work can make them available online. A small donation from the photographer or estate could guarantee the digital archive will be available for a long time, with some funds left over to support the hosting institution. I don't know of anyone doing this yet, but it seems likely it's happening or will soon. Digital storage is cheap and getting cheaper.
But the physical items, yeah...
I think that you've put your finger on something that some photographers should be thinking about. I'm involved in two communities that have active historical societies that are very interested in acquiring photographs of their communities. Having searched for historical photographs of these communities myself, I was surprised at how little exists. It's unusual to come across worthwhile prints, let alone negatives. One thing that's become clear to me is that ordinary people who took photos, or their descendants, didn't keep negatives, and in almost all cases the prints, if they exist, are quite small. One might think old photographs of New York City neighbourhoods are plentiful, but that isn't the case.
Outside the work of professionals whose work was/is considered significant, my impression is that very little has survived the death of the photographer. It's also not easy to find what does exist, because it requires labour intensive, time consuming work going through archives. It's analogous to looking for a needle in a haystack. I'm living in a nationally-designated Historic District for which there is very little historical photographic record.
People who have images in digital form are in a position to help ensure that photographic records of the 2020's are a lot better than what we have for the decades before 2000.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
My negatives will be fine, they are easy to store and manage. However, my wife only took digital files of the kids. About 15 yeats ago she put all the files on an external drive. Who knows what format the drive is in, plus she cant even find the cord for it. Realistically, who is going to go to the trouble of and expense of trying to maintain a digital archive.
A digital archive needs continuous attention, always being one drive failure or retired operating system away from losing everything.
I see Apple has a new drive format for SSD. I suspect the old spinning disk journaled format will eventially be unreadable by a future OS.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ic-racer
My negatives will be fine, they are easy to store and manage. However, my wife only took digital files of the kids. About 15 yeats ago she put all the files on an external drive. Who knows what format the drive is in, plus she cant even find the cord for it. Realistically, who is going to go to the trouble of and expense of trying to maintain a digital archive.
A digital archive needs continuous attention, always being one drive failure or retired operating system away from losing everything.
I see Apple has a new drive format for SSD.
I'm just one of the many, many millions of people who have maintained digital music and films for a couple of decades, including ripping them from their original hard disk formats as storage came down in price. Like countless others, I ripped my entire CD collection in order to get rid of the physical disks, which were a nuisance to "store and manage". I got rid of the rather expensive CD player too.
Recovering the photographs of your kids from your 15 year old hard drive is not only not rocket science, it's quite straightforward. Either get a replacement cable or take the drive out of its current enclosure. It comes down to whether you care enough about the photos of your kids to do that.
Apple's "new" drive format, APFS, has existed for five years. It's replacing previous drive formats. Mac users are not "losing everything". The only people who "lose everything" due to a drive failure are people who fail to back up their drives despite being told repeatedly to do so.
A comment about this: "My negatives will be fine, they are easy to store and manage." Some years ago, I had a tour of the premises of Beken of Cowes, the world's most important photographer of sailing vessels. The company's glass plates and negatives, going back 130 years, were stored on the premises. They were a fire from the entire collection being lost. What were they doing about it? They were starting to make digital scans of all of the photographs.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
If we want to place our archives with an institution, we better start labeling stuff. The Ws: Where, when, who, what, why. It makes a huge difference if the receiving institution has to hire extra staff to do the research or not. It's the difference between treasure and trash. Let's label our images while the memory is still there.
Yes, our images will some day become historical witnesses (if they aren't already). No, we should not take our heirs' opportunity to choose themselves what is worth keeping. I keep telling my parents not to clean up the attic, because they throw away the wrong stuff. They get rid of the things with emotional meaning for me and my brother and keep worthless junk that can be replaced any day on ebay.
Sorry for the rant. I have no idea what will happen to my images. My son is 18, who knows what his future interests will be. I'm not famous enough to entertain the idea of a museum or archive as a recipient.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Great point on labeling. I noticed this in my own work. Very often, I'd label the PrintFile sleeves with developer information but not location or dates. I'm fixing as much of that as possible now by - believe it or not - correlating it with iPhone images from the last 15 years. There is something to be said for taking quick documentation shots of sites before hauling out the 4x5 or 8x10!
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ic-racer
My negatives will be fine, they are easy to store and manage. However, my wife only took digital files of the kids. About 15 yeats ago she put all the files on an external drive. Who knows what format the drive is in, plus she cant even find the cord for it. Realistically, who is going to go to the trouble of and expense of trying to maintain a digital archive.
A digital archive needs continuous attention, always being one drive failure or retired operating system away from losing everything.
I see Apple has a new drive format for SSD. I suspect the old spinning disk journaled format will eventially be unreadable by a future OS.
I have 60-year-old photo albums with little prints. It has a better chance of surviving than any digital files. So, the lesson is making prints of you best pictures and give them as gifts to friends and family, framed particularly. Those will survive more likely while giving pleasure in the meanwhile to you and them.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bmikiten
Great point on labeling. I noticed this in my own work. Very often, I'd label the PrintFile sleeves with developer information but not location or dates. I'm fixing as much of that as possible now by - believe it or not - correlating it with iPhone images from the last 15 years. There is something to be said for taking quick documentation shots of sites before hauling out the 4x5 or 8x10!
One advantage of using a phone to make photos of analogue photographs, or of the scene when making an analogue photograph, is that you can use IPTC's format to input information about the shot and keywords to make searching easy. All photo archivists are aware of the IPTC format, and it's so widely used that it's unlikely to be obsolete for the foreseeable future. People who use Lightroom, Capture One, etc. can already do this. For those who don't... just about all news organisations and photojournalists use Photo Mechanic, but my understanding is that there are apps that are much cheaper, and some that are free, that may work fine for occasional use.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
There is so much data created everyday of all kinds by everyone. There seems to be some idea that this information is so important it must be preserved. Why? Everyone wants to be remembered, I get it. But others could care less. How much info do we really need to store anyway? For what benefit, really? It becomes a time-wasting and boring job that few really care about except the storer.
I've never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul.
"Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body."
.... Ecclesiastes 12:12
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Alan Klein
There is so much data created everyday of all kinds by everyone. There seems to be some idea that this information is so important it must be preserved. Why? Everyone wants to be remembered, I get it. But others could care less. How much info do we really need to store anyway? For what benefit, really? It becomes a time-wasting and boring job that few really care about except the storer.
As I've said in post #22, when I make photographs I often have in mind two historical societies, one in New York and one in rural Newfoundland. This became a factor when I discovered that there is very little photographic record of my New York Historic District or of the rural area where my Newfoundland summer home is located. I talked in post #22 about New York. A few years ago I spent some time in Dorset, Hampshire and Guernsey researching buildings, paintings and records that have a bearing on the history of my part of Newfoundland. I found a lot of material, some of it going back hundreds of years, but only six photos. They were negatives shot with a medium format camera by a gentleman who was important in both England and Newfoundland. I was excited until I had a good look at the negatives and discovered that they were all out of focus :)
As part of that trip, I also learned a lot about southern England and the Island of Guernsey. I had only seen Guernsey before while crossing the English Channel in a sailboat (surfing a Channel Islands tidal stream in a sailboat at 18 knots - 21mph, 33kph - is quite an experience), and knew about Guernsey mostly from the wonderful, and important, novel The Book of Ebenezer Le Page. I also acquired a better understanding of Guernsey's complicated World War II history, and visited Victor Hugo's home in exile (he had accused Louis Napoléon Bonaparte of treason), Hugo's approach to interior design being unconventional and interesting.
Do I think that this is all "time-wasting" and "boring"? Not the words that I would choose.
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, NYRB Classics,
Introduction by John Fowles
Attachment 228828
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Alan Klein
There is so much data created everyday of all kinds by everyone. There seems to be some idea that this information is so important it must be preserved. Why? Everyone wants to be remembered, I get it. But others could care less. How much info do we really need to store anyway? For what benefit, really? It becomes a time-wasting and boring job that few really care about except the storer.
I've never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul.
"Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body."
.... Ecclesiastes 12:12
Yes, but at what point does one stop? The thought I was posing in the initial post was really one of historical use, family value and the general fun (or commercial value) we all derive from photography and our negatives. No one except my family who have watched me for hours waiting for the right light or traveling 300 miles just to capture a certain scene will appreciate it. They certainly won't print the negatives.
Burning the negatives (per a Will) is interesting. We saw Brett Weston do this with little affect on the value of his prints or (IMHO) his notoriety. Not that either mattered to him in the end but he did have a plan. I have 12 of his prints and don't expect to sell or get rid of them as I think they are some of the best work out there. My kids may enjoy seeing them on their walls in the future but they will doubtfully assign any aesthetic or monetary value to them. I suspect my images will have a greater value to them than anything I've collected so that's something.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
h2oman
Throw them away before I die, to save someone else having to keep them until they decide to do the same! I guess if I wanted to be dramatic, I could have a party and burn them, but I'd rather not send out toxic smoke.
+1
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
A more important question is "does it matter what happens to your negatives when you're dead and gone?" For the vast majority of us, its not going to matter one way or the other.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chester McCheeserton
+1
Speaking as someone who just had to deal with my parent's estate, I'm in agreement. I will throw them out.
If you haven't set up a will, and in particular if you haven't setup your assets to be transferred on death without going through probate, then you might want to look into it.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
r.e.
As I've said in post #22, when I make photographs I often have in mind two historical societies, one in New York and one in rural Newfoundland. This became a factor when I discovered that there is very little photographic record of my New York Historic District or of the rural area where my Newfoundland summer home is located. I talked in post #22 about New York. A few years ago I spent some time in Dorset, Hampshire and Guernsey researching buildings, paintings and records that have a bearing on the history of my part of Newfoundland. I found a lot of material, some of it going back hundreds of years, but only six photos. They were negatives shot with a medium format camera by a gentleman who was important in both England and Newfoundland. I was excited until I had a good look at the negatives and discovered that they were all out of focus :)
As part of that trip, I also learned a lot about southern England and the Island of Guernsey. I had only seen Guernsey before while crossing the English Channel in a sailboat (surfing a Channel Islands tidal stream in a sailboat at 18 knots - 21mph, 33kph - is quite an experience), and knew about Guernsey mostly from the wonderful, and important, novel
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page. I also acquired a better understanding of Guernsey's complicated World War II history, and visited
Victor Hugo's home in exile (he had accused Louis Napoléon Bonaparte of treason), Hugo's approach to interior design being unconventional and interesting.
Do I think that this is all "time-wasting" and "boring"? Not the words that I would choose.
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, NYRB Classics,
Introduction by John Fowles
Attachment 228828
There's no end to a bucket list.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Alan Klein
There's no end to a bucket list.
You think that I've lived for many years in New York and Newfoundland, and have an active interest in the history of those places and the work of my local historical societies, as part of checking off a bucket list? What an odd idea. If you're referring to Guernsey, I've been spending time in the English Channel, in particular on the Isle of Wight, for 30 years. Where do you think the people who worked in the Newfoundland cod fishery came from? In the 19th century, investors in the Newfoundland cod trade were among the wealthiest and most politically powerful people in England. Part of what I wanted to see, in Hampshire in particular (30 minutes by high speed ferry from Wight), were Georgian and Victorian mansions that they built. More contemporarily, where do you think the steelworkers who built our New York skyscrapers came from? A lot of them were from Newfoundland. The union hall, and their descendants, are still in Brooklyn :)
There's no shortage of subjects for photographs, and no shortage of organisations that would be interested in them, particularly if they're well-documented and in digital form.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Sorry for your loss, linhofbiker.
Your circumstances bring up the crux of this matter, though. For most of us, whether our negs go in the bin when we die will depend on the sentimental attachment of our surviving loved ones, not the artistic merit or monetary value of the negs. I certainly can't imagine anyone would ever want to purchase my own, but I'm sure if I die before my wife, she will dutifully keep them all in a couple of boxes in the attic until it's her turn.
If I know I'm on the way out, I will spare her the trouble and throw them all in the dumpster myself, and just prepare a portfolio of at most 20 or so images that she can keep to remember me and my obsessions. Same with the gear, I don't want to die and leave her with hundreds of lenses and cameras that she will have to hand over for pennies to the first shark who answers his phone.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jody_S
Sorry for your loss, linhofbiker.
Thanks.
As I put together a memorial at our house I have found photos from 1967 when we met.
When my mother died in 2009 there were thousands of B/W pictures and negatives of family history in the attic.
Being the family photographer I assumed responsibility for them all.
My wife and I made a family album over years of many prints on large sheets held in a loose file.
I made 4x5 images of each page for my 2 sons.
All this is meaningful to those family members still alive.
My wife always wanted me to accomplish my stated goal in life of "living to 100 and knowing about it".
As I approach this goal I hope I can dispose of my photographic tools and put stuff in the dumper so relieving my survivors this task.
Perhaps when this happens around 2044 the digital world would have developed from today's "cloud" to something much better.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
What is the rush?
Maybe in 20 years we have better recycling
maybe we will need big negs as windows
even air space insulation barrier
or
think
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
I am on a mission to print all my edition prints before I kick the bucket, At that point I will give the master original negs to some institution or just destroy them, A lot of my original film is colour negative so nature will take its course on the film. I am not
sure if I want to have anyone print my negs at this point, but if one of my apprentices stays with me and continues the business I may pass them on to her.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
This is one of those threads that I tend to circle around for a bit...and I think I'll continue circling for the time being.
But in the meantime...Linhofbiker I am so sorry for your loss.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Negatives and resulting images ... their value based on creative/expressive content ~or~ perceived value of it's creator's symbol of worth/fame _?_
Disputed Ansel Adam's negatives from years ago.. much about who gains _$_ from creative work:
https://veritasbusinesslaw.com/trade...ams-negatives/
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/co...ns-ugly-108004
Bernice
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
All this is a simple reminder that perhaps the greatest advancement in digital photography is the "delete all" button.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Most of my photography consists of family photos and photos of buildings, businesses etc in my small town taken for archival purposes. The project is to organize and catalog them such that they are easy to identify.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
paulbarden
A more important question is "does it matter what happens to your negatives when you're dead and gone?" For the vast majority of us, its not going to matter one way or the other.
Pretty much summed it up ..
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
This is so depressing I'm going to pour myself an ample Brandy, LOL!
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
John Kasaian
This is so depressing I'm going to pour myself an ample Brandy, LOL!
At least your family won't have to worry about any Brandy being left behind... :rolleyes:
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
“Because of the many pictures I have of my father, he eludes me completely. In my outrageously disloyal memory he does not exist in three dimensions, or with associated smells or timbre of voice. He exists as a series of pictures…I don’t have a memory of the man; I have a memory of a photograph. I rush upstairs to the scrapbooks and there he is. I’ve lost any clear idea of what my father really looked like, how he moved, sounded; the him-ness of him. I only have this. <photo of her father in shirtsleeves>”
Excerpt From
Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs
Sally Mann
Not withstanding the above, I have and keep a number of pictures of my parent and grandparents, both prints and negatives. I think one of my two sons will appreciate what I have kept. As far as photographs related to my work as an archaeologist, I am in the process of documenting them and getting them to the archives of the museum where I worked.
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
r_a_feldman
As far as photographs related to my work as an archaeologist...
Maybe it's just me, but I got a chuckle from that :)
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Re: What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bmikiten
Yes, but at what point does one stop? The thought I was posing in the initial post was really one of historical use, family value and the general fun (or commercial value) we all derive from photography and our negatives. No one except my family who have watched me for hours waiting for the right light or traveling 300 miles just to capture a certain scene will appreciate it. They certainly won't print the negatives.
Burning the negatives (per a Will) is interesting. We saw Brett Weston do this with little affect on the value of his prints or (IMHO) his notoriety. Not that either mattered to him in the end but he did have a plan. I have 12 of his prints and don't expect to sell or get rid of them as I think they are some of the best work out there. My kids may enjoy seeing them on their walls in the future but they will doubtfully assign any aesthetic or monetary value to them. I suspect my images will have a greater value to them than anything I've collected so that's something.
Ask your kids which photos they might like to see you print so they can put them up on their walls. Make photo albums of family pictures and give to them. These are the things most people care about preserving.