What to do with pictures?

[Jimsig]

Someday in the perhaps not-so-distant future, no one except an antique computer collector or museum might have the ability to read a thumb drive.

Try and find someone to read a 5.25" floppy disk. That's what it's going to be like to read a thumb drive in the future. Not tomorrow or next year, but someday.

I don't see these as related. The USB port is a standard connection for MANY types of devices such as external hard drives, printers, wireless mouse, etc. I don't see the USB port going away anytime soon.

Yes we have gone from 5.25 floppys to 3.5 disks to CD/CDR to thumb drives over the course of the past 30+ years for removable media. But none of them became immediately obsolete. All my computers in that time had a combo of at least 2 of those devices, except possibly the earliest one I had that maybe just had a 5.25 drive. All it takes is transferring the info from one media source to the latest when something is nearing the end of it's life. Even today you can buy external 3.5 and optical drives to hook up to a brand new computer and they are not expensive.

I don't see thumb drives going away anytime soon for the same reasons @_19disnA said. The can also be easily transported and really don't take up any space which were slight drawbacks of the earlier forms of media.

 

[BlueGreen5]

I don't see thumb drives going away anytime soon for the same reasons @_19disnA said. The can also be easily transported and really don't take up any space which were slight drawbacks of the earlier forms of media.

And if they do, there will be plenty of advance notice of the phase out and you just adapt. Just like with floppies, CD ROMs, etc.

And, as someone above mentioned, any form of storage has a limited lifespan, so forced change is good every so often.

 

[Jimsig]

And if they do, there will be plenty of advance notice of the phase out and you just adapt. Just like with floppies, CD ROMs, etc.

And, as someone above mentioned, any form of storage has a limited lifespan, so forced change is good every so often.

Exactly. And although those older media readers are no longer installed on computers you can still buy them if you have the need to use them. I purchased a 3.5 external drive a couple years back as a found a box of floppies I wasn't sure what was on them and was curious. Found a couple things I had forgotten about so I transferred them to my computers HD.

It's almost like saying I'm not going to use a gas powered/electric car today because someday there will be hydrogen powered cars.

 

[barkley]

I like old school photos. I like the experience of going through them vs. seeing them on a screen-something about the tactile nature. maybe it's knowing that generations well before my own handled the same photos...it's a physical connection. that said-i have some photo albums dating back to when my kids were little but all the loose photos I have I purchased a few storage boxes for at hobby lobby. any individual photos of the kids went into a box for that kid, if it was both kids and one copy it went into mine/if a duplicate then one each went into each kid's. anything not directly relating to individual kid went into my box. when the time comes they can decide who gets what (if either want any). I do need to make a point of going through them and writing names on some of the older photos (something I wish some past generations had done on some I have and have guessed on who is who).

I have some very old family photos that are professionally framed-those I need to write on the back who the photos of (and a bit of a family tree).

 

[tvguy]

There are things you can do to minimize you risk of losing images stored by a 3rd party as mentioned about. However, printed pictures can also fade in time. The chemicals used to print older color photos do NOT last forever. Even with B&W photos, how/where you store them will impact how long they last. There are trade-offs associated with whatever means you use to store older pictures. At least with a digital format, you can reprint those older photos anytime you want. If a really old photo fades, there really isn't anything you can do to restore that.

My parents switched from black and white photos to color in the mid-1960's. Those early color photos do fade, but the black and white photos taken before then see to be stable. Like I said, the oldest family photo we have is from 1911 and appears stable. It is framed and out of sunlight. Actually, it is more sepia tone than black and white, which was common back then.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I don't see these as related. The USB port is a standard connection for MANY types of devices such as external hard drives, printers, wireless mouse, etc. I don't see the USB port going away anytime soon.

This is what we said 25 years ago about CDs and DVDs.

I will never get rid of my old photos. My whole life's happiest memories are there. Of all the stuff I need to make room for when/if we downsize someday, that is one thing I will make room for. It's all the other dumb crap that has to go. I simply don't trust any digital format to save something so precious. A real print, if stored at proper temperature and humidity, (not in a basement or an attic) will last at least 100 years. My grandmother was born in 1917, so she'd be turning 108 this year if she were still alive. I still have her baby pictures, First Communion, a picture of the church where her parents got married, her wedding pictures and a ton of my dad's baby pictures. He's now in his mid 80's. All in excellent condition.

I don't live in California, but if I ever had to evacuate for some emergency, I'd pack all our old photos, jewelry (especially what was my mother's) and important documents. The rest is all replaceable crap.

 

[DisneyHardin]

My suggestion is to go ahead and organize the photos by kid, so when you are gone, your kids won't have to worry about sorting them out - they can just take the albums/boxes labeled with their name.

 

[disneyseniors]

We downsized after retirement and now have many boxes of 35+ years worth of photos. We need to downsize our picture collection as well, and have no idea where to start. How did you decide which pictures to keep when your children grew up? And how did you store the photos that you did keep? We have no problem with making digital copies, but we would still like to keep some paper photos for backup. Our children live far away, and it’s difficult choosing which photos are more
special. They all bring back such precious memories! Any tips for saving money with this emotional process?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Thanks for starting this thread, TinkOhio!

This is something I have been struggling with for some time now. I am retired and have the time to do something about it, but whenever I start looking at the pictures I get sidetracked. I spend a lot of time looking and remembering, especially the kids, and never seem to get rid of more than 3 or 4 pictures. I have one huge box full, one small box, and a few albums. I cant seem to get through the big box at all.
I love the idea on here to put the kids pictures in individual boxes for them later on. However, most of my pictures are with both kids in them.
I plan to go through them this winter and put them in albums to organize them. Hopefully I will be able to get through them when the time comes, (but I doubt it)

 

[barkley]

This is what we said 25 years ago about CDs and DVDs.

I will never get rid of my old photos. My whole life's happiest memories are there. Of all the stuff I need to make room for when/if we downsize someday, that is one thing I will make room for. It's all the other dumb crap that has to go. I simply don't trust any digital format to save something so precious. A real print, if stored at proper temperature and humidity, (not in a basement or an attic) will last at least 100 years. My grandmother was born in 1917, so she'd be turning 108 this year if she were still alive. I still have her baby pictures, First Communion, a picture of the church where her parents got married, her wedding pictures and a ton of my dad's baby pictures. He's now in his mid 80's. All in excellent condition.

I don't live in California, but if I ever had to evacuate for some emergency, I'd pack all our old photos, jewelry (especially what was my mother's) and important documents. The rest is all replaceable crap.

even those older photos that have been exposed to lesser conditions can still be in amazing condition. my dad was born in 1911 and I have photos of HIS grandparents that are in fantastic condition despite surviving the dust bowl and likely being schlepped around in less than ideal conditions when the family relocated to California. the photos I see decay on in my possession are of the 70's and on era of drugstore developing and polaroids that have been kept in far more ideal conditions.

dh and I have a 'bugout' plan if fires threaten us (have in the past)-the pet carrier and the family photos are both within quick access to be grabbed. vital paperwork we did a project of a few years ago and made a duplicate set of to store in a safety deposit box at the bank (so it's only the stuff we could not duplicate like passports/government id's) we would need to snag.

 

[lovesmurfs]

My suggestion is to go ahead and organize the photos by kid, so when you are gone, your kids won't have to worry about sorting them out - they can just take the albums/boxes labeled with their name.

I'm doing that now, but will actually be sending them as packages to them when I'm finished.

 

[disneedee]

i have a different approach to those boxes and boxes of photos. out of 3 boys only one is interested in saving history stuff. (they are in their 30-40's. so i have taken a box with me when we visit those grandkids. we enjoy going thru the memories with that son's family and then i leave the box with him. (there is always a handful i have to bring home)

 

[bakerworld]

When we had kids I would have two albums - sometimes three, for a bit - going at one time. One album was strictly them and the other was family. Some are trips which all need to be redone because it was back in the 'stick on' era and those pages no longer retain any stick. I have replacement albums and they're sitting on the shelf waiting for me when I can no longer travel. The kids albums I gave to them and they wanted them. There are still loads of pictures of them, at the same ages, in the family albums.

My question: Toss the negatives - yes or no?

 

[_19disnA]

My question: Toss the negatives - yes or no?

Probably depends on how you plan to use those pictures. Negatives can be used to do reprints and yield a better quality image than scanning or any other method. If you never plan to print additional pictures, then you can probably toss them. How you file/store the negatives also matters since you somehow need to relate them to specific prints if you ever plan to print more which can take up a LOT of time/effort. Creating a filing system will take up a lot of effort and if you don't carefully store negatives they can be easily scratched which makes them worthless for doing reprints.