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| Nan's wedding photo |
Do you love old photos?
I do.
I remember sitting with my Nan and going through her old brown port of photos.
All just thrown in, no order, no system.
She'd tell me who was in each photo...with an accompanying story.
I loved those times.
My Nan is no longer with us and I think all of those photos went to my aunty.
Tonight I was wondering about our future generations.
I probably love digital photography more than just about anybody.
But it got me thinking...
Will our kids have old photos to look at?
Will I be able to sit with my grandkids and tell the stories of the photos?
What was once rare and precious, is now plentiful and abundant.
Do we have too many photos now?
Interesting question and I had to give it some thought. I do think in this digital age we take a heck of a lot more photos, and in the long run I think it will be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteTimes change, and technology changes along with it. Each generation has had more access to image reproduction than the generation before it. I have seen a (very) few photos of my grandparents when they were young, and none of my great grandparents. However, I have seen charcoal sketches of one set of great grandparents and even one great-great grandparent (who never came to America). That was the most common way to have your image preserved in that time.
In my lifetime photos, film (8mm - first silent and then with sound) and slides were common and families would get together to view each type. It was exciting when your film came back from the lab.
Today sharing takes a longer distance approach - and more immediate one. But I believe that todays files will be around much longer than what preceded them. Film and photos deteriorate with time (which is why I have digitized much of what I have), colors change, fade and become unusable or unseeable. A digital file will produce the same image - with all its vibrancy - 100 or even 1000 years from now. When photos and film no longer exist, digital files can.
I currently have my files neatly arranged on a dedicated hard drive (with a copy on a backup drive and archived on DVD's) and fully organized by year and date - which includes a description. I can locate almost any file within minutes, unlike with the thousands of photos and negatives, film reels and slides which generally sit in albums or boxes. And even though my kids no longer live with me we share them and marvel at old photos (including digitized photos and movies). And I get to see pictures of my grandsons immediately.
Yes, things have changed - but access is better and people still love getting together to see old pictures - even if it is from hundreds of miles away (as my daughter is now) thanks to today's technology.
Most of my photos go on my blog now, so as long as nothing happens to blogland, I should be alright!
ReplyDeleteBtw, you look very much like the lady on the far right in the wedding photo.:)