Doing a "Master Reset" on my photography

[Kodachrome25]

They might be worth something after you are dead.

Uh-oh, I don't think he wants to do that either...;-)

[Daniel Stone]

ok, here's the skinny on why I'd NEED to physically destroy them(as opposed to keeping and thusly, needing to STORE them somewhere):

its precisely that: BREAKING FREE of them. Not having them be a physical burden around my "neck", so to speak. I'm de-cluttering. Not storing them at a facility, only to have to attend to them at a later date. Or storing them at my parent's house, in the garage. No, they're MY responsibility.

Now, I'm not talking about 100lbs of negatives here. No, maybe 5-6lbs at max. Not a whole lot. But they do take up the better part of 3 cubic feet, so I'd like to not keep tripping over the tub they're in!

Oh, I've been talking with a friend the past few weeks about golf, I've hit the local driving range 2x this week with my $4 purchased-at-goodwill 7 iron, working on my technique. Club's too short, but I'm getting the hang of it. And it's nice to get outside to do something other than think about having a camera in my hand...

-Dan

[Michael_4514]

Every physical object is a burden in one way or another. But you're talking about the equivalent of two or three pairs of shoes. Methinks the burden is in your mind, and I'm not sure throwing the negatives away is going to fix that.

[Jim Jones]

If you must leave photography, do as Cletus suggests. Otherwise, save that old film. A lot of images can be stored in a very small volume. There is occasionally new value in film I shot 60 years ago, and in family negatives almost 100 years old. Imagine the loss if Eugene Atget had destroyed his negatives!

[jnantz]

you are really funny dan, acting as if this film ( and prints ) have some sort
of magical power to burden you with ...

you might want to remove your teeth, there are transmitters in there "they" are tracking you with too ..

( or maybe talk to someone about what is really bothering you ... )

[BetterSense]

The essential differentiating quality of photography is editing. Whether the editing happens in the camera, or before the camera is set up, or on the light table, or after printing--we arrive at the image we want as much through elimination as creation. If you have negatives that you should not have taken, then there is no harm in burning them. however, I prefer to sort such negatives into boxes labeled "junk/burnable" negatives. If they ever become a storage burden, I know I can just toss the whole thing. Sometimes they come in handy for practice loading film holders and such.

[DrTang]

get yourself a Leica Rangefinder.. an old M2 or M3 maybe

one lens - 35mm f2.8

and a small lightmeter - gossen pilot


walk about - take pix


nothing will kickstart your interest back than the best designed, most ergonomic, natural camera with it's greatest lens


simple, easy fun

and doing so (and bringing it back to Large Format) will get your interest back in all photography incl the large film kind

[Trigeek]

I completely understand your desire to destroy your old negatives. The finality can unburden you. I have done essentially the same, though my goal was to get rid of 80% of my photographs and only keep my "better" ones. It was a quick process, went through with a simple "keep vs eliminate" mentality. Took 3 iterations till I was at my goal. Felt pretty good afterwards. My wife and I just did the same thing of sorts downsizing from a larger house after raising two sons, to a much smaller dwelling. Eliminated well over half of our possessions. Though fire was not involved, donations, Craigslist and eBay sufficed after that a dumpster was called in. Felt great afterwards and put us in a good place to move forward with our life.

[tangyimail]

To spend less time on this forum and more time taking better photos, good advice.

[Keith Fleming]

Dan,

I understand what you are saying about your need to break free. Going out and playing golf is a good way to break with the past and into something new. There's also good advice here about how a change of camera format can be refreshing--I've found that borrowing my wife's "antique" 5-megapixel point-and-shoot renews the fun of photography. Change--regardless of type--can be good for the soul.

My experience, however, does provide a cautionary tale about destroying your negatives. My wife's grandfather kept all--and a I mean ALL--of the negatives taken with his various amateur-level cameras from 1916 to 1948. He used local drugstores for processing and printing, so the negs varied from under-developed to dark enough to be bulletproof. Nevertheless, there were enough good negatives that in the mid 1990's I was able to select and print images (traditonal snapshots, really) that showed the history of my wife's family from her grandparents' honeymoon through their youngest childs' departure from home. These images, along with extended captions for each, went into archival albums which my wife and I gave to her parents and siblings (and our kids) as gifts. With the passage of time, the albums themselves have become historical documents, family heirlooms, and treasured.

My point is that you are changing and growing, and you will be doing that all your life. Save those negatives for now--and for the future. Trust me, in 40 years you will be glad you did.
After all, those negatives show your subjects as they are now, and they also say much about you--and your vision--as you are now.

Above all, feel free to grow, change, and move forward.

Keith