What will happen to your negatives in "the end"?

[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....

[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.

[Chester McCheeserton]

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

[Peter De Smidt]

+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.

[fotopfw]

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.

[Bernice Loui]

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Same question came up after the gift of the life's work from another well known local artist (images have been archived at UC Berkeley).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

[Eric Woodbury]

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

[Mark Sawyer]

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...

[Serge S]

Digital archives can be problematic as the storage media / technology is fluid and changes & the data needs to be migrated periodically.

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...

[r.e.]

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.