How will you preserve your photographic legacy?

As of late I've been thinking about this. I know people have invested great money in data storage hardware and even software. Other people believe printing is the way to preserve. I don't believe either will work by itself. I think it requires investment on the part of the person who survives me, investment in the longevity of my work. So, with that in mind, I have been giving my work away. Yes, giving it to people I know want it yet can't afford it.this way there is a reasonable chance they are invested in keeping my print alive. More so if they bought it, I understand. So, how will you preserve your legacy?

I would suggest giving both physical print if they want it and a digital back up to go with it. Heres a good start or method I chose. I used the Epson Perfection V550 flat bed scanner. Not cheap but worth the money paid. I easily scanned approximately 800 non professional family snap shots. It can scan multiple photos at once and has other great features that save a lot of work. I then put them on DVD and external hard drive and memory sticks for the family members.

vision35 wrote in post #19128418
I would suggest giving both physical print if they want it and a digital back up to go with it. Heres a good start or method I chose. I used the Epson Perfection V550 flat bed scanner. Not cheap but worth the money paid. I easily scanned approximately 800 non professional family snap shots. It can scan multiple photos at once and has other great features that save a lot of work. I then put them on DVD and external hard drive and memory sticks for the family members.

Unfortunately with more and more reliance on laptops and tablets by folks, and with more and more software downloaded from the web, fewer and fewer people will bother to even get a DVD reader that plugs into their laptop or tablet!

I had grown accustomed to providing photos on CD or DVD to daughters and husbands, until someone asked if there was a different way I could send them the photos...they did NOT OWN a reader! That Xmas I gave all families USB DVD reader-writer units...4 units cost me less than $100 at the time!

So if you give DVDs, verify that they have a means to READ the disk...don't assume they have one, or it disk might simply sit in a drawer never read and viewed...laziness too easily interferes with buying a $20-25 computer accessory. Look at all the folks holding their smartphone rather than using a Bluetooth earpiece to facilitatate hands free driving.

I have not researched many internet methods of sharing photos and files. I would consider using a Micro XD, SD card or something but one giant phone tablet brand does not have the optional memory card slot. I have no idea if a data cord and card reader can be plugged in where the charging plug, jack or whatever is. I have hooked up android phone and tablet to get files off my phone using a data / charging cord but not any other brands.

I don't see a viable long term digital archival system for most photographers, unless you are a photog of note your work will just vanish into the either, as happens with most old film photography, but with film there is a slight chance it can be discovered and someone will care.

So once or twice a year I use an old medium format camera and shoot chromes of the kids growing up. The chromes are positive images and the color is beautiful. In 50 years (or 100) someone can take them out of a drawer hold them up and see a picture. I also shoot a bit of B&W negative film for more artistic reasons, but not for archival purposes.

twoshadows wrote in post #19125126
As of late I've been thinking about this. I know people have invested great money in data storage hardware and even software. Other people believe printing is the way to preserve. I don't believe either will work by itself. I think it requires investment on the part of the person who survives me, investment in the longevity of my work. So, with that in mind, I have been giving my work away. Yes, giving it to people I know want it yet can't afford it.this way there is a reasonable chance they are invested in keeping my print alive. More so if they bought it, I understand. So, how will you preserve your legacy?

For the long run, I would suggest optical media as the physical copy of the digital images in common formats. CD-R or DVD-R is fine (write once; archival class, M-disc even is an option). For the other comments in this thread regarding optical media, there's far more historical and current evidence that optical media will outlast any other inexpensive media you can get your hands on for this purpose, and there's no shortage of hardware to read these discs, despite the phone/tablet/laptop-with-no-optical-drive being common, but this is a tiny portion of the greater market of devices that would be used. CD/DVD optical is not going anywhere, the hardware is still widely available and inexpensive and there's no evidence to suggest it is going away, at all, and to the opposite, optical is the most valid of all inexpensive media for this purpose. Go get a CD from the 90's that you have, I bet you can play it just fine and I bet you have something to play it with, 30 years later. And this won't change anytime soon.

Then, as you pointed out, print on materials that will last with a coating to protect the print from sunlight and other exposure over time. Spread them out to many house holds.

As long as you've let your images even touch anything Google's servers have spied on, your images are forever going to be in an archive with old Google, against your will and without your permission. So there's always a backup!

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #19132758
Go get a CD from the 90's that you have, I bet you can play it just fine and I bet you have something to play it with, 30 years later. And this won't change anytime soon.

Not trying to be contradictory, but merely relating what I have experienced...I got some software CDs included with some other product purchased. I installed them fine...yet some years later I could not reuse those software CDs to install them onto later PCs.
That has happened twice to me, with two different software CDs.

Among the manufacturers that have done testing, there is consensus that, under recommended storage conditions, CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R discs should have a life expectancy of 100 to 200 years or more.

Go figure.

DVDs are better than CD's, less vulnerable to disc rot (deterioration of the reflective layer) because of a plastic protective layer. But they can delaminate! And both CD-Rs and DVD-Rs are more likely to suffer from disc rot due to the type of organic dye used in recordables.

I was fortunate enough to study with Mark McCormick-Goodhart for two years. Mark is a materials scientist, formerly in charge of photographic permanence at the Smithsonian for a decade. He also worked with Wilhelm doing light fade tests. When Mark left the Smithsonian, he developed his own light fade metric and began research*. I helped him with that research and he taught me how to make a fine art print. Like I said, I was very fortunate to study with Mark.

The upshot of this whole thing is that I learned a lot from the light fade testing. I learned which papers and which inks work best with regard to longevity and quality over time.

As a result I only use Epson or Canon printers with OEM inks. I prefer Canon inks over Epson, but I prefer Epson printers over Canon's printers. In the end, for me it is a wash with regard to Canon or Epson. What isn't a wash is the paper. I use Hahnemuehle museum etching 350gsm and Canson edition etching. They are both fine art watercolor papers. Their longevity and quality over time are outstanding, with Hahnemuehle approaching the 200-year mark in light fade testing while maintaining color and contrast.

*Mark's database can be found by googling ardenberg imaging & archives. I haven't looked in a long time myself...

When I saw the Subject in this thread I immediately thought of my late friend Clive who unexpectedly sadly passed away 16 months ago.

He was a fabulous photographer of Nature/Street/portrait​/landscape/macro. He left his legacy of 15,000+ photo's on Flickr. Please just have a browse at some of his photo's....

https://www.flickr.com​/photos/clived100/

Often when I post photo's to Flickr and give them a title I get to see "friends" who post photo's with a similar title. His photo's in most cases pop up. I also sometime search for images in area's/locations even names of birds and again his images would pop up. In some cases they bring back memories of times where we would of bumped into each other as we lived close by. These images are there also for his many friends and family still to enjoy. He got much enjoyment sharing his photo's.

I hope that my photo's also will remain on Flickr if anything was to happen to me as I only have copies of them on my hard drive which is unlikely sadly ever to be looked at.

PC off topic, but haven't seen you about.
Trust you're well.
I've missed your excellent input in the birds thread.
Has the current pandemic stemmed your ability to get to your favoured spots?